. >> good afternoon welcome to
the july 28th 2026 regular meeting of the san francisco
board of supervisors. Madam clerk, please call the
roll. >> yes supervisor chan chan
present supervisor chen chen present supervisor dorsey
dorsey present supervisor fielder fielder present
supervisor mahmood mahmood presents supervisor gentleman
president mendham and present supervisor melgar melgar
present supervisor sardar sauter present supervisor
cheryl cheryl not present supervisor walton walton
present supervisor wang huang present mr. President you have
a quorum. >> thank you, madam clerk.
the san francisco. San francisco board of
supervisors acknowledges that we are on the unceded ancestral
homeland of the ramakrishna loney who are the original
inhabitants of the san francisco peninsula.
as the indigenous stewards of this land and in accordance
with their traditions the ramakrishna loni have never
ceded lost nor forgotten their responsibilities as the
caretakers of this place as well as for all peoples who
reside in their traditional territory.
as guests we recognize that we benefit from living and working
on their traditional homeland. We wish to pay our respects by
acknowledging the ancestors, elders and relatives of the
ramakrishna loni community and by affirming their
sovereign rights as first peoples.
colleagues, will you join me in reciting the pledge of
allegiance pledge allegiance to the united states of america
and to the republic for which it stands one nation
indivisible with liberty and justice for all.
>> on behalf of the board, I want to acknowledge the staff
at s.f. Gov tv today that is especially kaleena mendoza.
they record each of our meetings and make transcripts
available to the public online .
>> madam clerk, do you have any communications?
yes, mr. President. The board of supervisors
welcomes your attendance here in person in the board's
legislative chamber room 250 on the second floor of city hall.
when you can't be here, the proceedings are airing live on
s.f. Gov tv's local cable channel or live streaming at
sfo vtv talk. As of july 1st pursuant to sb
707 the full board is required to take remote public comment
during the public comment period.
we will prioritize those who have joined in person and then
hear from our remote callers. The board has also approved a
rule to address disorderly public comment.
members of the public must keep their comments germane to
matters within the jurisdiction of the board.
any comments that contain personal attacks, harassment or
discriminatory remarks directed to a city employee or board
member are outside of the scope of this body and shall be
redirected. Failure to immediately redirect
those comments will result in that individual's forfeiture
of remaining time and we will transition to the next speaker
. Please remember to address your
comments to the board as a whole and not to individual
members. To submit public comment
in writing send an email to bossa at safety of dawg or via
your postal service to the san francisco board of supervisors.
number one dr. Carlton be good place city hall room 244 san
francisco, california nine four 1 or 2.
to make a reasonable accommodation for a future
meeting under the americans with disabilities act or to
request language assistance please contact the clerk's
office at least two business days in advance by calling
(415) 554-5184 members. That concludes my
communication. >> thank you, mr. President.
thank you, madame clerk. All right.
let's go to our approval of meeting minutes.
>> today the board is considering approval of the
june 23rd board meeting minutes and the june 22nd june 24th
and june 25th special meeting minutes at the budget
and appropriations committee which constituted a quorum of
the board. >> can I have a motion to
approve the minutes as presented moved by walton
seconded by chan? >> madam clerk, can you please
call the roll? Yes on the minutes supervisor
walton walton I supervisor wong huang I supervisor chan chen I
supervisor chen chen I supervisor dorsey dorsey I
supervisor fielder fielder I supervisor mahmud mahmud I
supervisor gentleman I mendelson I supervisor melgar
melgar I supervisor sardar sadr I supervisor cheryl cheryl
either lebanese without objection the minutes will be
approved after public comment as presented madam clerk let's
go to the consent agenda please call items one through 18 items
one through 18 are on consent. These items are considered
routine if a member objects an item may be removed
and considered separately. >> please call the roll on the
consent agenda. Supervisor walton walton I
supervisor wong wong I supervisor chan chen I
supervisor chen chen I supervisor dorsey dorsey I
supervisor fielder fielder I supervisor mahmood mahmood I
supervisor gentleman hi amendment I supervisor melgar
melgar I supervisor sadr sadr I supervisor cheryl cheryl I
there are lebanese without objection the audiences are
finally passed and the resolutions are adopted.
>> let's go to unfinished business please call the budget
items 19 through 26 together items 19 through 26 comprise
the final reading of the annual budget item 19 is a budget
and appropriation ordinance appropriating all estimated
receipts and all estimated expenditures for departments of
the city and county of san francisco as of july 1st, 2026
for the fiscal year ending june 30th 2027 and 2028.
I don't 20 is this annual salary ordinance enumerating
positions in the annual budget and appropriation ordinance for
the fiscal year ending june 30th 2027 and 2028 know in 2021
is the ordinance amending the administrative code to
authorize the city administrator to pause, reduce
or return the annual contributions by the
departments that contract for public works to the san
francisco selfish self-insurance 30 bond fund
item 22 is an ordinance modifying the baseline funding
requirements for early care and education programs
in fiscal years 2627 and 2728 to enable the city to use the
interest earned from the early care and education commercial
rents tax for those baseline programs.
item 23 is an ordinance amending the health code to set
patient rates for services provided by the department of
public health for fiscal years 2627 and 2728.
item 24 is an ordinance amending the administrative
code to increase certain utility meter fees
and authorize the comptroller to annually justify fees for
weights and measures and utility meters up to the
maximum allowable under state law.
and item 25 is an ordinance temporarily suspending the cap
on the use of homelessness gross receipts tax revenues to
fund short term rental subsidies and finding that
temporarily allowing for increased expenditures on short
term rental subsidies will further the purposes of our the
our city our home fund. And finally item 26 is the
ordinance adopting the neighborhood beautification
and graffiti cleanup fund tax designation ceiling for tax
year 2026. >> chair chan thank you present
amendment colleagues I rise before you at a very proud
moment. A month ago the budget
and appropriations committee completed its work to bring
before the full board unanimously recommend it for
fiscal year 2627 and 2728 chu fiscal year budget and today we
are poised to hopefully again unanimous city approved this
budget something that this board supervisors has not done
in six years and this budget while it can certainly be
improved upon is something we all can be very proud of all 11
of us we will restore more than $28 million in cuts to vital
services, retain frontline jobs and safeguard more than $1.3
billion in reserve funds to protect against further
anticipated cuts from trump's administration.
for the past four years our work my team and I as chair of
the budget committee has centered on reducing wasteful
spending, creating our rails against corruption, saving for
the future by putting reasonable dollars on reserve
and reversing cuts affecting the most vulnerable san
franciscans and saving essential jobs and services.
I believe that together we have been successful with this work
this year again in collaboration with
mayor lurie we have accomplished a lot and thanks
to him and his team this year we invested eight $8 million
annually to replace the san francisco fire department's
fire trucks, all of which are more than ten years old with
some up to 50 years. So we funded new pfa freeze
uniform for every firefighter by july of this year replacing
all uniforms containing cancer causing chemicals of course as
mentioned earlier that we now put together a 1.3 billion
dollars in reserve to safeguard against trump's cut to health
care. We have ensure full funding for
immigration legal defense funds and immigrant resources
in collaboration with all members and particularly the
budget and appropriation committee.
we restore $28 million in reinvestment and those
include vital services to support seniors employment
opportunities for youth critical programing
and services for our lgbtq. A transgender linux and bipoc
communities we fully fund it free city college we also fund
vital hiv prevention and care services.
we reverse layoffs for workers that provide services at 311
call centers laguna honda hospital and child care
facilities under the human service says agency.
this budget showed that we can and should move forward a
spending plan that prioritizes support for our most vulnerable
communities and that we can still safeguard for our future.
so I am proud of the work we have accomplished together
and honored to have serves san francisco as your budget
committee chair under two different mayors two different
board presidents and through 18 civil rights supervisors.
>> and so thank you colleagues. Why are we still facing tough
challenges ahead? The work we have done together
has moved san francisco in a positive direction.
>> so while this is my last year shepherding the city's
budget as chair, please know colleagues I am here at your
service to assist all of you to make sure that we continue to
stay on this positive trajectory.
meanwhile though I continue to hope not just right now but
remaining of the year that all of us continue to stay vigilant
in guarding the city's fiscal health.
so of course I just want to thank president amendment for
appointing me to as budget committee chair and thank you
colleagues and thank you vice chair dorsey for being a vice
chair really throughout the year not just during the budget
process. So thank you colleagues for
your support. >> it's been an honor serving
you. Thank you.
supervisor dorsey thank you president randleman.
colleagues, I want to start by thanking budget chair connie
chan for her outstanding leadership throughout the
budget process as I have witnessed here in city hall for
many years praying prior to joining this board guiding our
city through challenging fiscal times is no small task.
chair chan has approached it for more years than just this
past one with professionalism, intelligence and a
collaborative spirit that benefited all san franciscans.
and as I said at the budget and finance committee two weeks
ago I know that some men my age might bristle at the notion of
having to admit they've been well mentored by someone who's
younger than they are. Fortunately I'm not one of
those men and I just want to say through the chair, connie,
you've been a great mentor to me as your vice chair on
budget. Thank you.
I'm also grateful to chair chan staff and especially francis
shea for the generous collaboration the entire office
brought to working with my office through the budget
process. Thank you all.
that same spirit of partnership extended to many others of
course I want to thank mayor lurie and his team budget
director sophia kettler for their collaboration every step
of the way. Ms. Kettler was thoughtful,
responsive and deeply engaged throughout these negotiations.
I'd also like to thank comptroller greg wagner and his
team but the budget and legislative analyst office
and every department that spent countless hours and shared
their expertise in answering our questions and providing the
information we needed to make well-informed decisions.
I want to thank my colleagues on the budget
and appropriations committee and all the colleagues on this
board. This was one of the most
collaborative budget processes I have ever observed.
let alone been a part of. We brought different
perspectives and priorities to the table of course, but we
approached this work with mutual respect a willingness to
listen and a shared commitment to finding common ground.
for much of that spirit I also want to give a special shout
out to president randleman for the spirit of cooperation that
you have imparted in your leadership of this board.
this year's budget was never going to be easy.
we met we entered this process facing a significant structural
deficit compounded by threats posed by the federal
government. I believe our responsibility
was to make decisions that put the city's finances on a more
sustainable path for years to come.
at the same time, budgets are ultimately about people
and throughout this process I appreciated that the committee
remained focused on listening to communities and responding
as best we could. The board's spending plan
reflects that effort. I think restoring
and protecting programs that matter deeply to san
franciscans while remaining mindful of our city's fiscal
constraints. Perhaps closest to my heart,
I'm proud that we found a way to stabilize funding for
programs that train the next generation of addiction
and recovery specialists and community mental health
counselors at a time when san francisco is making historic
investments in behavioral health and recovery services.
we also have to invest in the workforce that makes these
services possible many of whom are in recovery themselves
and who are finding real purpose in helping others.
I'm grateful to for the partnership of supervisor
sharon chen and her staff jackie prager in particular
in working to preserve essential community services
especially for the filipino community so that we share
in district six and 11 and beyond.
those organizations provide trusted cultural competence
support that thousands of residents rely on every year.
I'm proud we were able to work together to protect them.
finally, thanks to my team my chief of staff dominica donovan
who staffed me on this budget. Thanks to to madison tam, brian
dahl and mohana somebody from my team I'm incredibly grateful
for the dedicated professionals I get to work with who are part
of my team and I'm pleased that we're able to preserve
important services for older adults across our city
including health programs that provide services to the lgbtq
plus community and those of us aging with hiv.
these programs are lifelines for seniors and caregivers
alike and they deserve our continued support.
and finally, I truly appreciate the collegiality of all my
colleagues in this process. We didn't agree on everything
but we approached these decisions in good faith and a
shared commit to serving the city we love.
thank you all. And for these reasons I'm happy
to support this budget. Supervisor sauter thank you
president madeline. >> colleagues if we take
ourselves back a few months I think we all knew the original
budget wasn't acceptable and had too many cuts and was
too blunt and how it made those decisions.
I know we all spent countless hours since trying to get this
budget to a better place. Maybe not the exact perfect
place any of us would have liked but a much better place.
and in a moment when we see our federal government turning on
its most vulnerable and proud that the budget committee
and now this board stood united and looking out for the city,
I'm also proud that we were able to fight for and win back
many of the proposed cuts. In particular we advocated
and won back funding to save programs that serve our seniors
small business grants that fuel our neighborhoods and services
to support our immigrant population.
>> over the past few months we've spent a lot of time
listening to communities both inside these chambers and out
in the neighborhoods. And through that I've heard
loud and clear that residents want transparency from city
hall. They want partnership and they
want to see city dollars turned into results.
those are values that don't end today with the passage of this
budget in which we need to keep top of mind going forward
because this certainly won't be the last challenging budget
before us. I want to appreciate my
colleagues particularly on the budget committee led by chair
chan or vice chair dorsey. And thanks as well to my team
for navigating a challenging and time consuming last few
months particularly my chief of staff tina bell and michelle
andrews as well. Colleagues, I would
respectfully ask for your vote today so that we can pass this
budget. I will add only a few thank you
since most of the thank you's have been have been made I do
want to thank sophie, marie and renee all the joy in my
office. I do want to thank special
thanks to chair chan who has now done this for four years
and ably led processes with different boards and different
priorities but has done it with a unique set of skills.
and so thank you to you and to frances shea and to all the
folks in your office who got us through that.
to my other colleagues on the committee.
thank you for your participation for all of your
work and then I would also like to give a little shout out to
cheyenne chen who agreed to sit in for me on a number of of
those budget and appropriations committee meetings.
>> I hope it was a useful exercise and experience for
you. I appreciate your well your
willingness to do that for me and with that, madam clerk.
I actually I don't think we need to do a roll call.
I think we can take this same house, same call.
>> without objection, the ordinances are finally passed.
>> please call item 27. Item number 27 is an ordinance
amending the police code to provide penalties for the
prohibited discharge of fireworks including a first
offense with a fine not less than 125 or more than 250
and is second in any subsequent offenses with a fine not fine
not less than 250 or more than 750 or imprisonment for not
more than six months. >> this one we do need to do a
roll call on on item 27 supervisor walton walton no
supervisor wong wang I. Supervisor chan chin I
supervisor chen chen I supervisor dorsey dorsey I
supervisor fielder. Fielder no supervisor mahmood
mahmood I supervisor benjamin hi benjamin I supervisor melgar
melgar I supervisor sardar sardar I supervisors cheryl.
cheryl either nine eyes and two nose with supervisor walton
and fielder voting no. >> the ordinance is finally
passed madam clerk please call item number 28.
item number 28 is a resolution retroactively authorizing a
grant from the california department of parks
and recreation for the sunset dunes striping and signage
project in the amount of 200,000 for a grant performance
period starting july 1st, 2025 through june 30th 2028.
>> please call the roll and item 28 supervisor walton
walton I supervisor wong wong I supervisor chen chen I
supervisor chen chen I supervisor dorsey dorsey I
supervisor fielder fielder I supervisor mahmood mahmood I
supervisor maintenance hi amendment I supervisor melgar
melgar I supervisor solder solder I supervisor cheryl
cheryl either 11 days without objection the resolutions
adopted please call item 29 item 29 is a resolution
authorizing a grant in the amount of 250,000 from the jane
privity fund for the purpose of increasing your per diems to
qualifying low income through the b b the jury program from
august 1st 2026 through july 31st 2031 I can take this item
same house, same call. Without objection the
resolution is adopted. Please call 3332 together items
30 through 32 or 3 resolutions to retroactively accept
and expend gifts from the epic systems corporation to help low
income and at risk populations for the period of july 1st 2025
through june 30th 2026. Item 30 authorizes monetary
monetary gift and entitled a 2025 utmb safety net grant
in the amount of approximately 12.7 thousand item 31
authorizes a monetary gift entitled 2025 safety net gift
in the amount of 115,000 and item 32 authorizes a
monetary gift entitled 2025 unrestricted gift in the amount
of 37 37.5 thousand. >> same house, same call.
without objection the resolutions are adopted.
please call items 33 and 34 together items 33 and 34 two
resolutions approving third amendments with resource design
interiors for system furniture item 33 increases amount by
approximately 1.6 million for a total not to exceed amount of
approximately 10.6 million and extending the term by three
years for a term of nine years from september 15th 2022
september 14th 2029 and item 34 increases the amount by
approximately 8.8 million for a total not to exceed amount of
approximately 17.8 million and extending the term by three
years, three months and 17 days for a term of nine years from
january 1st 2021 to june 2nd. Some I mean to december 31st
2029 same house, same call. >> without objection the
resolutions are adopted. Please call 35 and 36 together
items 35 and 36 are two resolutions retroactively
authorizing the department of public health to accept
and expend grants in the amount of approximately 1.1 million
for a total grant amount of approximately 15.9 million from
the centers for disease control and prevention for
participation in program and table entitled
strengthening std prevention and control for health
departments for the period of july january 1st, 2019 to
february 28th 2027 and item 36 in the amount of 250,000 from
the state of california through essential access health for
participation in a program entitled comprehensive sexual
and reproductive health program for a term of one year from
april 1st, 2026 through march 31st 2027 same house, same call
without objection the resolutions are adopted.
please call 37. >> item 37 is a resolution
approving the recreation and parks department general
manager declaration of emergency for emergency
dredging at the san francisco marina yacht harbor estimated
to cost in excess of 2.5 million.
>> same house, same call without objection the
resolutions adopted. >> please call 38 and 39
together items 38 and 39 or 2 resolutions regarding
construction of affordable housing item 38 authorizes each
city to acquire the real property located at 758 pacific
avenue from new age to housing lp for approximately 2.2
million approving a third amend at the third amendment to the
loan agreement and the total amount not to exceed
approximately 13.7 million enter into a residential ground
lease for a term of 75 years in order to construct a 100%
affordable 175 unit multifamily rental housing development
affordable to low income senior households.
approving a commercial groundless with dc new asia
commercial llc to lease a portion of 772 pacific for a
term of 75 years to construct and operate certain commercial
space for community serving purposes and making appropriate
findings. And item 39 resolution is a
resolution that authorizes mou cd to partially forgive
approximately 1.2 million in outstanding rent obligation
liens and reduce the monthly base rent to 5000 per month for
the main remaining duration of the month to month occupancy to
end on september 30th 2026. >> same house, same call
without objection the resolutions are adopted.
and with that yes, madam clerk we shall go to our 2:30 p.m.
special order for people who are here for items later on
in the agenda. >> we have a lot of items under
our 2:30 p.m. Special order and so that could be it'll
definitely be more than an hour .
>> madam clerk please call 2:30 p.m. Special order yes our 230
special order is the recognition of meritorious
service to the city and county of san francisco.
>> let's start with the district ten supervisor walton
. Thank you.
president of colleagues today it is my honor to recognize
and celebrate someone who has dedicated an extraordinary 50
years of her life to the students, families
and communities of san francisco.
miss emily wade thompson. Miss wade thompson is a true
san francisco native and lifelong product of the san
francisco unified school district.
she attended smu as the from kindergarten through 12th grade
and then went on to earn her degree in elementary education
in from san francisco state university.
in her master's degree in educational leadership from
the university of san francisco ,she has spent her entire
career giving back to the various good district that
helped shape her over the course of 50 years with sfi
usd. Emily served as a teacher,
principal and administrator. She spent 15 years in the
classroom, 11 years as principal and 24 years as an
administrator for 30 of those years.
she dedicated herself to dr. George washington carver
elementary school first as a teacher and later as a
principal. She touched the lives of
generations of students and families.
>> but emily's impact extends far beyond the walls of any one
school. >> for 24 years she served as a
supervisor and director of family and community engagement
where she worked tirelessly to strengthen the relationships
between schools, families and communities.
she understood that we invest in families and bring
communities to the table. Our students are stronger
and our schools are stronger. She also believed deeply
in creating opportunities for young people to dream bigger.
>> she coached the only elementary school track team
and smu sd at the time and organized education
and cultural trips that allow students to experience the
world. Traveling from paris, france to
senegal, taiwan washington dc. Her commitment to service has
also been felt throughout our community.
for more than 30 years she has been a dedicated member of the
san francisco alliance of black school educators serving as
president and helping lead important initiatives such as
the african american reading day and scholarship programs.
for more than 20 years she partnered with the suu kyi
foundation to support attendance and student success
and baby bonus point schools. And she's supported 28
shoestrings pre-k cohort graduations.
through her membership and leadership with the better
new chapter of the national sorority of phi delta kappa
incorporated, she has continued to advance literacy, mentorship
and community engagement. And as a lifelong member of
first union missionary baptist church, she has remained
committed to uplifting families and strengthening the bonds
that hold our communities together.
>> ms.. Wade thompson your career is a
testament to what it means to truly serve.
>> you cannot simply work in our schools.
you help build community. You didn't simply educate
students. You open doors, created
opportunities and inspired generations of young people to
see what is possible for themselves.
50 years of service is an incredible milestone and your
impact can be seen in the students you taught the
families you supported, the educators you mentored and the
communities you strengthened. It is my privilege to honor you
today and celebrate the remarkable legacy you have
built right here in san francisco.
congratulations ms.. Wade thompson on 50 years of
service. We are grateful for you.
we celebrate you and we thank you for everything you have
given to our city. Enjoy your retirement.
>> thank. >> good afternoon.
okay. Good afternoon everyone.
and to supervisor shimon walton and to everyone that is present
it is dede an honor to be here to accept this.
I am so humbled. At this very moment.
I'm grateful for the 50 years that I have served in the san
francisco unified school district on something that I
know that I was called to do that I loved and I was very
passionate about that of being an educator.
I could not have made this journey without some very
strategic partners such as the san francisco alliance of black
school educators, the first union missionary baptist
church, the national sorority of phi to cap inc. Begin a new
chapter the sushi foundation the african-american
achievement and leadership initiative and of course my
family. And I do want to say to
supervisor shimon walton thank you for being one of those
african-american readers that have come into our community
for at least 20 years. >> I really do appreciate that
. >> I also wanted to say a
special thank you to the bayview hunters point community
for having built a relational trust where you allowed me to
work with thousands of children in that community
and especially the dr. George washington carver academic
elementary school where thousands of students have come
through that door. And I'm hoping in some way that
I nurtured their genius. I would like to leave you with
a call to action. >> please do not forget those
african-american children that I've worked so hard with
and that are still there. If you know that you can help
them and you know what you know and you know how to educate
them, please do so. Once again, thank you.
supervisor sherman walton. >> and thank you for everyone
who's present here today. I really do appreciate it.
to go over
add all right districts. >> 11.
supervisor chen. >> may I have mr. Simon
tanner's come up to the podium ?
>> tolley it's my great honor to recognize to recognize roxy
for center chu district 11 institution.
as they celebrate their 50th anniversary in this august roxy
it's more than a neighborhood market.
>> it's a story of immigration's perseverance
family and american dream. And then in the 1970s, simon
tanner's and his family one of ten siblings immigrated from
jordan in search of better futures.
like so many immigrants, family who have helped build san
francisco, simon began by working long hours in a local
supermarket alongside his uncle through work, determination
and sacrifices. He and his brother peter
realized that their dream of opening roxy for center on san
jose avenue in 1975 over the past five decades.
roxy has become woven into the fabric of district 11 when a
larger grocery store like the safeway closed for the evening.
roxy stayed open serving neighbors, workers, family,
anyone who was needing a warm milk of friends or a friendly
face. >> they carefully selected part
out that reflected diversity of our community making everyone
feel welcome. Roxy has also been a gathering
place for a generation of young people.
they have proudly sponsored a local ethic effort like day
programs including city college football, riot and high school
teams, road and high school sports team and balboa
buccaneers found proudly known as many as roxy sports.
>> they were filled with trophies and team photos tell
the story of business that has always invested in its
community. Their generosity extends far
beyond the store. Rosie has donated food to
countless community drives, participated in neighborhood
celebrations such as the 4th of july parade and regularly
catered community meeting and public safety event.
>> today simon's nephew make proudly carry on the family's
legacy as a father of three wonderful children.
he represents the next generation of an immigrant's
family whose tot work continues to strengthen our city.
>> his story reminds us that san francisco and america is
built by family who arrives with hope wartime tirelessly
give back to their community and create opportunity for the
next generations. >> it is also fitting that roxy
has become a favorite spot for dedicated officers after
ingleside police stations and our firefighters as they
say something special that say something special about the
welcoming spirits and quality of the roxy has offered to for
the last 50 years. Roxy food center is not simply
a successful small business industrial ivan.
it's also a symbol of american dream a beloved pillar
in district 11 and also one of the many immigrants successful
story that makes san francisco the extraordinary the
extraordinary city that it is today.
>> congratulations on 50 incredible years.
we thank you simon make and the entire ten years family for
your unwavering commitment to our neighborhood and we look
forward to celebrating many more milestone together.
>> congratulation. Thank you.
>> good afternoon, everyone. My name is simon tanase.
I I'm really honored and privileged to receive this
recognition on behalf of my roxy family.
my nephew mick and his brother in law mike.
his wife sienna and mike's wives my hero and their family.
I'd also like to recognize my brother peter to thank him for
all the hard work and his wife beth mercy and over there
and we are honored to be part of the mission terrorists
neighborhood for the last 51 years.
and it is been a privilege and a blessing to be part of
that neighborhood that the customer is the neighbors, the
mission terrorists association led by david hooper and his
wife lisa here in a big part of the roxy success and you know I
like to think also of ingleside police station for all the
protection they gave us over the years.
all the schools in the area there are countless including
city college. We have been blessed.
and thank you so much supervisor chen for bringing us
to this point here. Thank you so much.
>> thank you everyone. Have a good afternoon.
>> okay, so here you can use the
one district one supervisor chan.
>> thank you. Cousin random and I first want
to thank supervisor dorsey for really like just say the
resolution celebrating the afghan-american heritage month
and that I'm so honored to co-sponsor.
>> but I also want to thank supervisors dorsey's a mohandas
peabody for organizing all of us and I'm so humble through
this ability that we together can honor the next generation
and our young and also all afghan-american leaders in the
community and through the recognition.
>> so thank you so much for your work.
it is my privilege and honor today that I get to honor rabbi
maha didi who is a native san franciscans and whose
profession and personal commitment reflect his deep
dedication to our city and our communities.
rabbi has remained devoted to the continued growth
and success of our city that he proudly calls home.
>> his commitment to san francisco is reflected not only
in his professional achievements but also in his
dedication to supporting the people, businesses
and communities that contribute to our city's vibrant
characters. >> through his work as an
attorney, entrepreneur and community member, robbie
continues to embody the spirit of service, leadership
and civic pride that defines san francisco.
>> robbie is a labor and employment attorney with
nearly a decade of legal shakespearean.
and he currently serves as an associate attorney at ogletree
deakins where he focuses exclusively on litigation
and representing employers in complex workplace matters.
robbie earned his bachelor of arts in political science from
chapman university and his juris doctor from ohio naughton
university. >> pettit college of law.
beyond his legal practice robbie has is a partner with
prickly and natural hydration company powered by prickly
pear. >> charisse water he has helped
grow the brand from an emerging start up into a nationally
recognized company that is carrying more than 3000 retail
locations across the united states.
demonstrating his passion for supporting local
entrepreneurship and contributing to san
francisco's thriving business community community service has
also been an important part of his life for the past 22 years.
he has participated in relay for life organizing fundraising
effort in honor of a close family friend who lost his
battle with cancer. He also volunteers as a mentor
for golden gate universe at his mock trial competitions helping
aspiring attorneys strengthen their advocacy and courtroom
skills. In addition, he volunteers at
his local mosque supporting community outreach initiatives,
youth mentorship programs, charitable efforts and service
project to assist families throughout the bay area.
>> so clearly he does not sleep through his legal career.
>> entrepreneurial efforts and lifelong connection to san
francisco robbie continues to contribute his skills,
leadership and passion to the city and communities that have
shaped him. >> and I'm so proud and so
humble to recognize his contribution here today and the
floor. >> thank you so much.
thank you. President mando man board of
supervisors and a special thanks again to you.
supervisor connie chen for this incredible honor.
I'm truly humbled and grateful to receive the commendation
from district one. I remember being a kid looking
up at the tall buildings in the city and thinking to myself
that one day you know I want to be in one of those buildings
doing something that matters. San francisco lit that fire
in me. It gave me something to reach
for and it inspired me to dream big.
and to be standing here today recognized by this incredible
community is something I will carry for the rest of my life.
>> as a labor and employment attorney at ogletree deakins
I've had the privilege dedicating nearly a decade of
my life of my career to advocacy and problem solving,
helping organizations of all sizes navigate complex
challenges. Every day I get to do work I
love right here in the city I love.
that combination is something I never take for granted.
and beyond the courtroom I've been fortunate enough to
channel my entrepreneurial spirit into a better for you
beverage company that makes natural hydration drinks from
real fruit instead of artificial ingredients.
>> and we have them here in many stores here in our very
own san francisco. And it all started with that
same hustle, creativity and determination to the city
instilled in all of us. And at the end of the day
everything comes back to san francisco.
whether it's the law to entrepreneurship or simply
showing up for the people around me, the city is what
drives me. The people, the neighborhoods,
the businesses, the culture. >> there's a heartbeat here
like nowhere else and I feel it every single day.
I'm so proud to be part of this community and lift each other
up and never stop striving to make the city better for
everyone else. >> I want to thank my family
especially my wife who thinks I work too much.
my colleagues and everyone else who has supported me along the
way. I promise to keep working hard
to keep serving this incredible city and to keep making san
francisco proud. >> thank you so much.
>> let's take one more. Let's take one district two
supervisor cheryl. Thank you president mantel min
and colleagues, thank you all for joining for afghan-american
heritage month this month. I am extremely grateful
and honored to commend zarina yousafzai from the union square
alliance. Zarina thank you so much for
being here and more importantly thank you for being you know
zarina was born and raised in fremont, the afghan
immigrant parents who instilled in her a strong commitment to
education, hard work and community service.
she carried those values with her to uc irvine where she
earned her degree in political science in 2018.
and since 2019 sareen has built her career here in san
francisco at the union square alliance where she now serves
as finance and human resources supervisor overseeing the
organization's financial human resources and administrative
operations. In this role she has
demonstrated remarkable leadership and resilience
in fields where women and women of color remain
underrepresented. Zarina also plays an important
role in advancing the union square alliance's mission to
support san francisco's downtown recovery.
she has helped manage grant funding from the office of
economic and workforce development delivering public
activations concert series safety initiatives
and community programing. >> this work has been
instrumental in revitalizing union square, bringing
residents workers visitors back to the area and revitalizing
san francisco as a whole. But beyond her professional
accomplishments, serena is deeply committed to uplifting
her community. She volunteers at al sabeel
masjid nurul islam mosque on jones street where she assists
afghan families and she mentors young women in their
educational and career pursuits.
>> zarina, thank you for all that you have contributed to
san francisco and the community.
>> your story reflects the broader contributions that
african americans have made to san francisco.
contributions rooted in service perseverance and a dedication
to uplifting others. Today we recognize you for your
leadership, your professional excellence and most of all your
commitment to this community. Zarina congratulations and the
floor is yours. Thank.
>> thank you so much. Thank you, supervisor cheryl.
it means a lot to me and thank you to the board of supervisors
for this commendation. In honor of afghan-american
heritage month it is truly an honor to be here today.
I also want to extend a special thank you to manas abidi for
recommending me for this recognition.
I'm grateful our paths cross while serving this incredible
city. Your commitment to uplifting
our afghan community inspires me deeply and I'm honored to
stand here today because of your support.
>> my afghan community is the core of who I am.
I was born and raised in fremont.
as mentioned by supervisor cheryl.
known to many as little kabul where thousands of afghans
including my parents found refuge in the 1980s.
I carry that history with me every day.
it reminds me of the resilience our community has shown
and motivates me to serve especially our youth and our
young afghan women who deserve to see what is possible.
>> my parents inspire me every day.
>> their sacrifice, strength and belief in education
and hard work are the foundation of everything I do.
I would not be standing here without them.
like so many children of immigrants, I am here because
of the opportunities they work so hard to create and I believe
it is our responsibility to inspire the next generation
through education, civic engagement and community
involvement. >> being recognized in the city
I love means so much. San francisco is a huge part of
my story. I am proud to work for the
union square alliance and contribute to its mission
alongside an incredible team that has provided me with
countless opportunities and countless opportunities to
grow both personally and professionally.
growing up san francisco was always a place I dreamed of
being and I'm grateful to now serve and give back to this
city. They say if you love what you
do you never work a day in your life.
and that's exactly how it feels.
this commendation is not a purchase, a personal honor.
it's a recognition of the african american community our
history, our contributions and our future.
it celebrates those who came before us and those who will
come after us. I did I did not take this
commendation lately I am deeply grateful to be commended during
a month that celebrates african americans and their
contributions to the city and county of san francisco.
>> thank you
. >> district three supervisor
sauter thank you president gentlemen.
colleagues today I'm happy to introduce sara for rosie
in honor of afghan-american heritage month.
sara please come up and join us .
sara for rosie is an immigration lawyer at the san
francisco office of fragment. Ray bernsen and lowy llp
located in district three. Her journey in san francisco
started at usf law school in 2017 where she obtained her
j.d. In 2020 and for the past nine years sara has witnessed
firsthand san francisco's vibrant culture entrepreneurial
spirit and deep rooted immigrant heritage.
>> through her work she actively protects
and strengthens these attributes every day by helping
immigrants build their future here in san francisco.
>> she is ensuring that our city continues to be a hub for
innovation and genomic growth. Her work also enriches san
francisco's cultural fabric by helping individuals
and families build new lives, establish lasting roots
and contribute their unique perspectives, traditions
and talents. As a bilingual attorney fluent
in english and farsi, sara brings a valuable cultural
perspective to her practice representing the immeasurable
contribution ins and resilience of african americans in the
legal profession and beyond. Her involvement and leadership
in celebrating afghan-american heritage is a reflection of her
belief in promoting the stories of those who chose to call this
city home. And as we honor sara's work
and prepare to celebrate afghan-american heritage month
in august, this is a moment to recommit to the work of making
sure our city is a place that welcomes and protects
immigrants, values their contributions and recognizes
the vital role they play in shaping our city's future.
so sara, thank you again for being an inspiring
representative of the african american community and for
helping san francisco be a stronger and more inclusive
city. >> and I now welcome you to
share a few words. Thank you.
supervisor san. >> good afternoon everyone.
>> I am deeply honored and grateful to receive this
recognition from the city and county of san francisco.
I would like to begin by extending my sincere thanks to
board president madeline. The members of the board of
supervisors and especially supervisor sauter and menard's
anybody for this incredible recognition.
>> thank you for your leadership, your service to the
city and your commitment to celebrating the diverse
communities that make san francisco such a special place.
I would also like to acknowledge how meaningful this
moment is because it comes as the board prepares to pass a
resolution today recognizing august as afghan-american
heritage month. As an afghan-american woman
receiving this recognition at a time when our community's
contributions, stories and history are being formally
recognized by the city of san francisco makes us honor even
more profound it serves as a reminder of how far our
community has come and the countless individuals whose
resilience, perseverance and service have helped shape
the city we all call home. For the past nine years san
francisco has been my home. It is where I attended the
university of san francisco where I built my career where I
found community lifelong friendships and where I have
grown both personally and professionally.
this city welcomes me, challenges me and inspires me
to give back in ways that I never imagined.
today I have the privilege of serving as an immigration
attorney. Every day I work alongside
individuals and families who are pursuing new futures.
excuse me new beginnings seeking opportunity
and building their futures in this country.
through that work I am constantly reminded of the
determination and hope that immigrants bring to our
communities. As the daughter of immigrants
and as someone whose own life has been shaped by those
values, it is an honor to help others navigate their own
journeys and contribute to the fabric of this city and country
. >> I would like to recognize my
partner bregman who is here today.
thank you rachel for your mentorship and support.
I am grateful to work alongside such dedicated and talented
professionals and this recognition is not mine alone.
to my parents thank you for your sacrifices, perseverance
and unwavering belief in the power of education, hard work
and service. Everything I have accomplished
stands on the foundation you built for me.
to my mom especially thank you for being my greatest supporter
and constant source of strength .
and to my husband thank you for your unwavering support,
encouragement, love and partnership.
I am so grateful to share this moment with you and our
daughter. Lastly, I would like to close
with an afghan proverb. >> excuse my farsi.
cataract. Cataract jamychal.
one got a tattoo on me shot. This means drop by drop of
river cross into the sea. To me this reflects the spirit
of san francisco. Every act of service, every
opportunity extended to another person and every contribution
to our community may seem small on its own but together they
create something extraordinary. Thank you again for this
incredible honor. It is a privilege to call san
francisco my home and I am deeply grateful to be
recognized by the city that has given me so much.
>> thank you
. >> all right.
>> district four supervisor wong.
>> good afternoon, colleagues. May have park and rec.
>> come join us up here. Hello.
>> good afternoon, colleagues. In celebration of park
and recreation month. I'm pleased to honor the
dedicated employees of the san francisco recreation and park
department whose hard work makes our parks and open spaces
some of the greatest assets in our city.
district four is home to some of the city's most iconic parks
and open spaces. Whether it's children playing
at a neighborhood playground, families gathering for a
picnic. Athletes competing on our ball
fields or residents simply enjoying the outdoors.
these spaces enrich our daily lives.
none of this would be possible without the hardworking park
recreation and park employees who care for them every single
day. I'd like to recognize several
members of the rec and park department who have joined us
today. There's general manager sarah
medland and policy and public affairs manager jack avery.
>> thank you for your leadership and everything you
do for our city. >> today I'm honored to
recognize two outstanding members of the department nick
borgerson and park service member and brandon o'keefe.
>> gardner captain. Nick serves as the park
services manager for service area for overseeing more than a
thousand acres of parkland across nearly all of district
four. For more than 14 years he has
led gardening and custodial teams working closely with
residents support countless community events and ensured
our parks and rec facilities remain in outstanding
condition. His leadership has been
instrumental in successfully managing our parks through four
stern grove festival seasons including the challenging years
following the severe winter storms and in maintaining
premier athletic fields throughout the district while
helping deliver the new stern grove playground.
brennan serves as the gardener captain for the stern grove
complex caring for stern grove pine lake park.
parkside square. Mcalpin park, carlson park
and several surrounding neighborhood parks.
during his nearly 12 years with the department, he has advanced
from apprentice gardener to gardener captain bringing
remarkable skill and pride to every park he has served.
one of his proudest achievements was leading the
landscape restoration of sterling grove's east meadow
following the devastating winter storms helping restore
his beloved community's space for concerts, weddings, picnics
and countless neighborhood gatherings.
while we're recognizing nick and brennan today they
represent the hundreds of dedicated recreation and park
employees who work behind the scenes every day from gardeners
and custodians to maintenance crews, recreation leaders
and supervisors. Your dedication keeps our parks
beautiful. Our facilities welcoming
and our neighborhoods thriving on behalf of the residents of
district four, thank you for everything you and your team do
to serve our communities. Now would like to give you a
floor to say a few things. Thank you and thank you to the
board for the recognition and the honor of which I'm
really proud. On behalf of my team both
gardening and custodial to accept it's it's really quite
an honor. As parks services manager I'm
incredibly thankful for the fantastic and committed staff
we have over in district four. Together we manage as you
mentioned 11 parks and complex sports complexes just within
district four. I have to pause and say one of
the one of the great joys I have with and working with
parks is the amazing team that I work with towards the the
beneficial maintenance of all of those unique parks
in district four and throughout the city.
if you think about it, each park is is a very unique little
gem and so unique are the communities that surround each
each park so each one is vastly different from the next and so
the parks there serve those local communities and it's just
nice to be part of that whole process to provide some oxygen
to you know, this this this area that can seem a little bit
9 to 5 for for a lot of folks. So just a I also wanted to
mention that our sfr pd team devalues its role in working
towards the maintenance here aspects and that's in providing
beautiful active spaces for our diverse community.
thank you for recognizing the hard work and efforts of our
humble team. >> appreciate it.
even though you get district five supervisor mahmood.
>> colleagues today it is my honor during an african
american heritage month for the upcoming month of august to
recognize william husseini, the assistant u.s. Attorney whose
career has been defined by extorting very commitment to
public service and to protecting our communities a
courageous alum has spent the past 13 years as a federal
prosecutor since returning home to the bay area in 2022.
she has served in the northern district of california where
she worked on corporate fraud matters, violent crime and drug
trafficking cases affecting neighborhoods within san
francisco including the tenderloin.
>> she was born in kabul, afghanistan and came to fremont
as a child after her family immigrated to the united states
. Like so many afghan families
who made their east bay their home, they became part of
fremont's vibrant afghan american community helping
build the neighborhood while creating opportunities for the
next generation. >> she went on to earn both her
undergraduate degree and law degree from uc berkeley for
clerking for a federal judge in miami at both the district
court and 11th circuit court of appeals.
although she had the opportunity to remain
in private practice, elam chose a career in public service.
she joined the u.s. Attorney's office in miami.
prosecuting cases and violence involving violent crime, child
exploitation, fraud, civil rights, public corruption
and drug trafficking. In 2022 she returned to the bay
area to continue that work here at home.
>> her recent jury trials in san francisco involve the
human trafficking of a young minor and a murder for hire
prosecution representing some of the most difficult cases.
>> our justice system is called upon to handle.
>> throughout her career, elam has approached this work with
conviction and responsibility rooted in protecting
and serving our most vulnerable communities.
>> she has worked to protect victims, uphold the rule of law
and help keep our communities safe.
>> this is especially meaningful to recognize.
elam during a fine american heritage month because this
month of august gives us the opportunity to celebrate the
generations of afghan americans who have strengthened our city
and our country through our public service.
entrepreneurship, education and community leadership.
>> holmes career reflects that legacy and stands as an example
of what is possible for young african americans growing up
here in the bay area. >> recently I also learned that
elam is the cousin of author charlotte for any who's work
many millions of readers may know to afghan's history and to
the resilience of its people through the book kite runner.
my as you may not know but one of the last memories I have of
my grandmother was watching the kite runner when it was playing
on broadway in new york and it's a memory I will
cherish for the many years now that she has passed.
>> so hamm, thank you for your service to the people of san
francisco and for representing the very best of our
afghan-american community. >> the floor is yours.
>> thank you. President amendment board
supervisor and a special thank you to supervisor mahmood.
I'm incredibly grateful for this recognition and my afghan
heritage is a big part of who I am.
my family immigrated to fremont when I was ten years old.
my earliest memory as a child or from growing up
in afghanistan and my first memories of immigrating to this
country involve how warmly the community in fremont welcomed
my family. And it's not just the community
in fremont but the bay area in general and that became my
home. >> and it is a beautiful place
to live especially as an immigrant.
>> I'm thankful for the community we have built.
a big part of why I chose a career in public service is to
serve the people who welcomed me and my family to this
country. I've had the privilege of
working with law enforcement partners and officials to make
the tenderloin a safer a safer place to live and work.
I want to thank all those partners for the work we've
done together and also have special note thank you to
mahnaz abadi for her tireless efforts in working to bring
people together for the betterment of our community.
on a personal level I want to dedicate this to my mom who is
here today. Mom, I'm amazed by your
sacrifices and grateful for your support.
you are the smartest and strongest person that I
know. And finally as a mom myself, I
want to call out my beautiful children zane and perry.
I love you both. Thank you again.
>> I really appreciate this opportunity and district six
supervisor dorsey thank you president mandelbaum.
colleagues, it is my distinct honor to recognize an
exceptional public servant whose life and career embody
the very best of san francisco's values resilience,
opportunity, integrity and an unwavering commitment to
serving others. I'm proud to honor joseph as
the mayor lurie's assistant chief for public safety joseph
joseph story begins like so many great san franciscans
stories do with a family seeking refuge and finding a
home. In the early 1980s his family
arrived in san francisco as afghan refugees seeking safety,
stability and the opportunity to build a better future.
they settled near silver avenue and sweeney street in a
community that welcomed them with compassion and hope.
>> joseph says that san francisco gave his family
everything opportunity, security and a future and he
has spent his career admirably repaying that gift through a
lifetime dedicated to protecting and serving the
people of this city. That calling led him to the san
francisco police department where he broke new ground as
the first afghan police officer promoted to the rank of
sergeant and was a speedy colleague of mine for a time.
over the course of his distinguished career he served
honorably and well in the mission southern tenderloin
and northern police districts earning the respect of
colleagues and communities alike.
joseph understood that true public safety isn't achieved
solely by enforcing the law but by earning trust and building
meaningful relationships with the community he was sworn to
protect. He worked tirelessly to
strengthen partnerships between law enforcement and our diverse
communities approaching every interaction with fairness,
empathy and with respect. When medical challenges brought
his police career to an unexpected close, joseph
continued his commitment to service in the private sector
with the san francisco 49 ers organization.
and when the opportunity arose once again to serve the city
and county of san francisco, he answered that call without
hesitation. Today as assistant chief for
public safety and mayor lurie's administration he continues to
advance initiatives that strengthen public safety
and foster collaboration across our city.
what makes joseph's career so truly remarkable isn't simply
the positions he has held but the values that have guided him
through every chapter of his service.
humility, integrity, compassion and an enduring belief that
public safety is both a privilege and a responsibility
. Joseph, on behalf of the san
francisco board of supervisors and the people of san
francisco, thank you for your decades of service, your
principled leadership and your unwavering commitment to our
city's diverse communities. As we prepare to celebrate
afghan-american heritage month in a few days, it is our
privilege to recognize you for your contributions and to
express our gratitude for all that you do and all that you
have done for the city we love. >> congratulations.
and I have to leave. But before you speak,
supervisor mahmood yosef yosef ,you have made one the most
profound impacts in my career and the first two years of
office. >> I remember that weekend
in september where there was an increase in youth violence
in the tenderloin. And you and I had a call
and you said let's go on a walk.
and we walked down leavenworth and it was like walking down
history memory lane because every block you told me the
story of who was there, how long they've been there
different demographics, different races.
every block was a different community, a different
challenge and a different element of hope.
and I remember when we got I think to leavenworth and eddie
a group of 20 kids runs up there weren't kids anymore but
probably young, young early 20s and they run up to you.
I don't think you'd seen them in years.
and one of them says uncle yosef, I just got a job.
>> and you showed me how these were people that you knew as
kids from your days in community policing.
and I don't know what lesson you were trying to teach me
that day but I came away with like 50 lessons.
>> and it showed me the power of community policing, the
profound relationships you formed with the neighborhood
and that on that day four years prior and the impact that that
has had for years and years to come and that impact I think
has led to permanently shaping a future for this neighborhood
where for the first time in years we're investing
in community policing again in the tenderloin for the first
time in years we're taking a focus on the youth and actually
elevating their stories because of you we are now creating the
first youth violence prevention program which I see squalor as
guys are behind you. >> we want to rise with the
united players and and it just shows how one person namely you
can make a huge difference. And mayor lurie picking you was
one of your best choices for the neighborhood band like it
was like if you were not in this position the tenderloin
would not be in the recovery that it's in today.
and I have permanently learned so much from you that I will
never forget. We have many years to go but I
I'm so grateful for being able to partner with you and for
teaching me so much on how to turn this neighborhood around.
and really excited and really great choice.
I'm really bummed it wasn't mine.
so big. >> congrats yosef.
thank you so much for sharing that comment.
yosef I should acknowledge that your boss mayor lurie has
entered the chamber. >> mayor larry if you would
like to say anything please come up.
>> okay. Supervisor mahmood that was
really poignant and I appreciate it and he deserves
every single word of it. I just wanted to stop by
and say I've known what do I call you mr. Izzy yosef for a
very long time now. His brother and his sister are
here who are dear friends. And when you go into jobs like
this you want people that are going to go all in with you.
and this is a tough position that you're in challenging one
you and and stephen betts and you all have just gone all
in with your your soul and your heart.
and and I talk to you at midnight.
I talk to you at 6 a.m.. You are always on and you care
so deeply about this city. You care deeply about the t l
but you care deeply about every single part of this city.
you want our youth to have opportunities and you're
fighting for it every day in this position.
and you come from the law enforcement side but your heart
is in the community building side which I think is so
incredibly unique. And we need more of that
in this city. And so it's I'm so grateful to
the supervisors for honoring I know yosef azeem.
he's a dear friend. But I'm glad that the whole
city gets to see a true champion of san francisco doing
the work every single day. Your two children, your wife,
your brother, your sister, your parents I know are incredibly
proud of you as am I. >> so thanks for all your work
on behalf of the city and county of san francisco.
>> all right. Thank you.
the presidency president, mandolin and board.
I'm truly grateful. I also want to thank
mayor lurie or chief of public safety steven betts, my
counterpart and the guy that truly puts in all the work with
me. My teammates across our city
departments chieftain chrisman sheriff miyamoto, chief
clinical lieutenant dave gough you know you guys are working
with us every single day making things happen.
and I can't thank you enough. Most importantly, you know my
family, my wife nicole, my kids luciano joseph jr.
and my brother tarek azeem. Dina and my mom and my uncle
tony for always supporting me. I always have big dreams, big
goals and they've never told me I can't do them.
>> they always say go harder, go bigger.
and even when I do go you've got to go even harder next time
. So they're never it's never
enough. You got to keep going.
so I generally thank you for for for doing that and really
the commute organizations I mean you got howard we got
rudy, we got the squad, we got vip united players.
I mean it's been over close to 15 years.
I've been working with these guys day in and day out
and just like the mayor said, I'm on the phone with howard at
four in the morning, six in the morning with these guys.
answer the call. They show up.
it's really not me doing the work.
it's honestly them doing the work and I'm just the guy
that's conveying the messaging .
so thank you all. This is really your award, not
mine. So thank you.
sincerely. You know, our family's journey
began about 40 years ago when my parents arrived as refugees
with nothing but hope. And my mother taught me that no
matter how hard life gets, you always take care of your
community and in return your community will take care of you
. And why I say that was because
she as a mother of three children my father had some
severe health mental health issues and she never gave up on
him. She continued to care for him
and you know she would still help other people.
and I would always say mom, you're struggling but you're
helping other people. And she would always say you
have to keep helping people. And that lesson just stuck with
me. Know I didn't understand it but
I saw it and that's why it's kind of ingrained in me now
and I just do it naturally because I watched her do it.
>> and you know, I hope she's proud.
I hope you're proud, mom. They are able to see this
today. >> this is really about you
know, not I again but I could tell you guys you know, I get a
little emotional even talking about the san francisco police
uniform was the greatest honor of my life.
the way it ended wasn't on my terms of course, because of
some health issues. But being able to come back
in this role is so special for me and just to be able to work
with these people again and do what I do from the bottom of my
heart there's nothing great on this road.
I mean when this ends I've accomplished my mission
in life. >> I'm happy to be here, happy
to do what I could with you guys.
you know, again, I can't thank you guys enough.
supervisor dorsey, you're the best.
I appreciate you very much. A great partner.
>> I can't do this without a group like this and one of us
you're doing phenomenal work. So again, thank you from the
bottom my heart. >> thank you to see the whole
family well take of her twin. Okay.
got it. Let's take some
. >> and next up, district seven
supervisor melgar. >> thank you, president
colleagues, it is great. >> on with a great honor that
disability pride month we will be presenting a special
commendation to the pomeroy recreation and rehabilitation
center. >> if you could come up please
. >> you too, david.
well, I located on the outer edge of san francisco a
district seven. The pomeroy center has served
at san francisco's disability community for more than 70
years. Next year will mark the
center's 75th anniversary. >> and it is it's probably
lesser known than the pomeroy center but it is actually owned
by the city and the land is through the public utilities
commission. The pomeroy center was founded
by janet pomeroy in 1952 at a time when many individuals with
disabilities were excluded from society and community life
and often institutionalized. >> in founding the center,
janet pomeroy aimed to meet community needs for programs
that serve children adults with disabilities seniors.
the center's mission is to provide recreation ational
vocational educational opportunities for people with
disabilities through programs and services that encourage
self-expression, promote personal achievement and growth
and lead to greater independence.
today the center's programs and services support nearly
2000 people every week. Some of pomeroy center's
impactful programs include the afterschool program for
children with disabilities who attend s.f. School throughout
the day offering a safe, active ,engaging place to learn to
play, to hold relationship ups. The residential program which
provides adults with disabilities with safe, stable
housing and individualized support.
>> the aquatics program a pool and swimming program that
serves both the disability community and the broader
community. Particularly children
and seniors. And the employment services
program which provides job training and placement services
to people with disabilities. >> we celebrate the pomeroy
center for this disability pride month because its work is
about uplifting and honoring the history, the experiences,
the achievements of the disability rights movement
and of the disability community.
disability looks very different for everyone.
>> for people experiencing disability it is a very diverse
thing. This month is a chance for us
to celebrate those in the community and also to recognize
the challenges folks in this community face still.
>> the primary center is a deeply admirable example of how
an organization working to support individuals with
disabilities can grow and thrive and help people
connect with others. I also want to note how
impressed I am with the staff at the pomeroy center who truly
serve with purpose, with love, with deep respect for the
mission of the center. They are a large part of why
this space is so warm and welcoming.
families feel truly connected to the center and that is only
possible because of the intention ality of the
relationships that get built here.
I want to celebrate the pomeroy center for its more than 70
years of dedicated service to and in collaboration with the
san francisco's disability community as well as the city
at large. With that I would like to
present jillian mueller, director of development
and communicate and david drew pinsky, ceo and jj kin who will
speak to us about the experience in the pomeroy
center. And I want to recognize their
service, their dedication and their care for the
community in san francisco. >> all right.
good afternoon, president vandeman and members of the
board of supervisors on behalf of the pomeroy center.
thank you for recognizing our organization during disability
pride month. >> we are especially grateful
to supervisor melgar who has been an incredible advocate
and friend to pomeroy throughout the years and we are
incredibly honored to be here today.
>> this recognition is important because it reflects
something really extraordinary .
history has not always been kind to the disability
community whose members have often been excluded, ignored
and hidden from public life. >> this commendation shows that
the board of supervisors sees values and celebrates this
community and recognizes the contributions that they make
every day. >> pomeroy we create
opportunities for children and adults with developmental
disabilities to build relationships, develop life
skills, express themselves, find meaningful employment,
stay active and of course have fun.
we also provide residential services that offer safe
and supportive homes where our residents can build
independence while also maintaining connected to the
pomeroy community. >> our participants are not
only involved that pomeroy. They also volunteer throughout
the bay area. For example, one group
volunteers with the san francisco marin food bank
and delivers meals throughout the bay area sharing their time
and talents while making a meaningful difference in the
lives of others. >> our impact as supervisor
melgar said, extends to the broader public with our 92
degree saltwater pool we provide therapeutic swimming
senior programs and children's swim lessons for people of all
ages and all abilities. As we continue to grow.
we plan to expand our residential housing program so
more participants can have safe stable homes for families with
a child or a sibling with a disability.
housing can be a major source of fear and anxiety, especially
when they are uncertain about their future.
we are committed to easing that bier by creating more long term
housing opportunities so people with disabilities can remain
in san francisco and stay connected to the people and the
places they know and love. We also hope to one day open an
inclusive, inclusive of preschool and daycare on site
where children with and without disabilities ages 0 to 5 can
learn and grow together from an early age.
>> today pomeroy serves more than 2000 people each week but
our true impact is found in the small moments of competence,
connection, independence and belonging that happen here
each day. >> thank you again to the board
of supervisors for this meaningful recognition
and thank you again to supervisor melgar for your
continued partnership and support.
I would now like to turn it over to jj who's one of our
participants at pomeroy to give her words on the her experience
at pomeroy to up to noon. My name is jj.
I am proud to be a positive pet at the palmerston day dojo.
my mother met model and services go board of
supervisors for our pathway to disability pride month.
>> paul has helped me grow because partly because of
pomona I have a job at no to and I'm proud to work and be
part of my community. >> my job gives me alerts
and helps me be more independent.
>> paul might also what has also helped me make well.
wonderful friends are to to new tunes go on fun community
outings and activities I never thought I could do.
>> I feel included. I feel supported.
I feel like I belong on disability pride month moments
as people with disabilities have drapes colored and dreams
with the white support we can work, make friends, be part of
our communities and live for a myriad of lives.
>> get your ball that is a palm and board supported people like
me. It has to district nine
supervisor fielder. Thank you president management
I would like to ask on your wall zimmerman and please come
to the podium. Colleagues I'm thrilled today
to commend on your wally zimmerman who among the many
roles they play in the community is the founder
and coordinator of the people's budget coalition.
>> today after passing the budget for this fiscal year, it
is fitting to honor anna for their work bringing us all
together to protect vital services for our communities.
>> at the helm of people's budget coalition which
represents over 150 organizations citywide spanning
the spectrum of services it is nothing short of a miracle that
they've been able to build consensus among partners
and get to agreement on priorities for advocacy
and they accomplish this during an extremely challenging
deficit year when we were initially facing proposed
massive cuts to san francisco's social safety net and extensive
layoffs of city workers. Instead, due to audience
expertise on the city budget and process as they led the way
in ensuring the restoration of $28 million in cuts to
community services on year has been no stranger to city hall
budget season for the past six budget years they have been
advocating for the most vulnerable residents in our
city. They began their time as an
intern for former supervisor dean preston in the district
five office back in 2020 at age 18 and then subsequently with
the office of former supervisor ronan who was budget chair at
the time in the role of budget fellow.
>> they learn the ropes, pored over spreadsheets and built
relationships on the second floor and among stakeholders
outside the building. They have become a master of
budgets and spreadsheets while a fellow on realize the need
for a participatory budgeting process where residents and the
organization in serving them shape how our money is spent
they went to work creating the infrastructure that would
become the people's budget coalition other than the
mayor's budget office and chair chan ana knows the budget
and budget negotiations process like no other in this building
. >> but ana also knows the
community the needs for essential services and how to
bring everyone to the table to come up with a plan to protect
these vital supports provided by so many amazing community
based organizations due to their leadership and the
collective partnership of people's budget members
and negotiation with all of my colleagues and their budget
staffers, we were able to secure wraparound support for
immigrant families, job training and placement for
people especially system involved youth case management
recovering substance use treatment and supportive
services culturally responsive support for adults in the
mission mobile health care, sdi testing and overdose prevention
for sex workers trainings and job connections for older
adults and adults with disabilities.
housing support for people experiencing gender based
violence support for culture districts and commercial
corridor revitalization and so much more on you.
you should be so proud of the work you did to make all this
happen. We known as a coalition and it
takes a village but what you bring to this work is a
relentless commitment to social justice an unparalleled grasp
of city budgeting and numbers and a deep love for community.
>> thank you for your service and I look forward to seeing
you at city hall next year during budget season and to
working in partnership to protect our vital services.
>> congratulations. I also see my colleagues on the
roster. Supervisor mahmood.
>> I just wanted to thank you again for all your advocacy
over the last several months. I really appreciated you
hosting the town hall in the tenderloin and I think what it
spoke to is that you proactively brought together so
many different communities not just in the tenderloin but
across district five and elevated voices and issues
that too often are forgotten as part of budget processes.
everything from housing to tenant protections to food
security. >> and it really felt like one
of the largest town halls we have in the neighborhood.
but it spoke to giving a voice for the voiceless.
and also explaining the budget process which can be extremely
complicated. But I remember there was a
conversation about revenue and revenue and making it
really accessible for everyone there even monolingual speakers
who are in the neighborhood as well.
>> and because of that education and because of that
advocacy, I do think the budget that we have this year was able
to represent what the people needed as well.
so thank you again for your advocacy supervisor, fielder
said we would not have had the outcome had it not been for you
and your coalition. >> so thank you so much.
supervisor jen. >> thank you president.
thank you. Supervisor fielder for offering
this special commendation to angel and your work on budget
this year and during previous years as a large part how this
sport has been held accountable to our community.
so your voice, your advocacy have helped to ensure that we
don't waver and that we protect the direct essential services
that our most vulnerable populations have relied on for
decades. >> you kept people calm.
why still remaining firm and steadfast?
you should be very proud, very proud of your coalition
building and your accomplishment.
>> and I know for my district michelle levin, we are grateful
for your partnership during this budget year.
>> congratulations. >> the floor is yours.
thank you. I'm anya wallis ekman with the
s.f. People's budget coalition. It's nice to not have the timer
counting down while I speak up here.
rarely. >> I have very much grown up
in city hall. I've been here since I was 18.
my seventh budget year and this is the first time that I
exceeded the budget proud of what we all did together
because truly it took each one of you as a member of the board
of supervisors I saw each one of you fight in a way that I've
never seen before. Fighting not just for your
district or for one organization that was important
to you. Each of you fought for a
community of san francisco that desperately needed your voice
and your leadership and a country that is demolishing
people's voice and people's leadership.
>> you give working class people access to city hall
through your public comment through staying attentive to
our public comments, through welcoming us in and allowing us
to make a bunch of noise in the hallway and interrupt you
and annoy you and bother you. You let working class people
now this year more than any other that when they get
involved they can make a difference.
we've let people know through this budget process where we
saved every organization that was going to close that is not
going to happen and did not happen on july 1st and that is
because of you. So I hope that we can remember
and hold this together as the future fights come ahead as it
continues to be challenging. I hope all of us can remember
the wins this year and the lesson that it taught to
working class san francisco. When you get involved with your
city government you can make a difference.
when you get involved with the budget you can change people's
lives radically. It's a very dangerous lesson
for working class san francisco to know which is that when we
fight we win. And so we will be back of
course we'll be back every single year until the work is
done because people's budget is a broad coalition that is so
much more than just myself though I am so honored with the
leadership that they allow me to have as such a young person
who can make mistakes certainly the coalition backing me up has
given me a voice to say what many of us for many years have
been chanting outside of city hall which is that in san
francisco we can do better. We can do better than this.
we can have universal child care.
we can have universal health care.
we can get to zero on hiv. There shouldn't be any elders
out on the street. We can feed every child.
we can do all of that in more in san francisco and we can do
it most of all when we all work together.
and so I think most of all supervisor fielder it is
incredible to have you back and to have our champion back
in city hall and especially to supervisor chan as well into
every supervisor who held a town hall with us.
you are making a difference. Your changing the way that we
do city government here in san francisco and reclaiming our
role as san francisco as the leader in democracy most of
all. And I think of course my
wonderful mother a survivor of domestic violence herself who
has passed on to me just a portion of the strength that
she was blessed with and that I carry with me every single day.
so she is the reason why I'm here today and thank you
especially to supervisor fielder supervisor preston who
originally brought me into city hall and trained me in the
first place. Supervisor ronan for teaching
me the budget and to my partner d.o. For supporting me for
endless endless days. >> he knows all of your names
whether or not he wants to. >> so I appreciate all of you
and thank you. I accept this on behalf of my
coalition and on behalf of every working class person who
came to city hall and got to see a vision of what it would
be like for working class people to really control city
hall. >> thank you
. All right, colleagues, I have
to today a retiring or a retired city employee of great
excellence and then an amazing organization.
first I'm going to invite eileen lofgren to come on.
>> you can't be leaving us. >> this is outrageous, eileen.
lucky me. I am honored to present a
commendation recognizing eileen for nearly three decades of
work on some of the city's biggest public health
challenges including overdoses ,hiv, hepatitis c
and homelessness. >> if it's hard in san
francisco has to deal with it. Eileen has probably been having
to deal with it from the start of her career.
>> she has championed communities that have
historically been marginalized, stigmatized or overlooked.
at the department of public health she'd worked in the
former hiv prevention section the community health equity
and promotion branch and behavioral health services
helping strengthen the department's capacity to
provide compassionate service to people who use drugs, those
experiencing homelessness and others facing systemic
health inequities. >> as director of the office of
overdose prevention, eileen built on that previous work
and experience guiding the development and delivery of
overdose prevention programs. Before her retirement in june,
eileen served as community affairs manager where she
continued to advance hiv overdose and hep c prevention
efforts in every role. Eileen emphasized building
partnerships across neighborhoods and within the
department ensuring that public health initiatives were not
only grounded in science but also informed by the lived
experiences and needs of san francisco's most vulnerable
residents. Her ability to listen build
trust and connect with san franciscans from all
backgrounds helped shape more responsive public health
policies throughout her career. Eileen also supported the next
generation of public health leaders strengthened
collaboration across the department and helped foster a
culture centered on compassion, partnership and innovation.
with deep respect and gratitude.
we thank you, eileen, for your decades of service to the city
and county of san francisco and the floor is yours.
>> thank you. Way to make an introvert feel
comfortable. >> you guys are welcome.
anyway, thank you president mandolin and members of the
board of supervisors. I'm so deeply honored to be
recognized today for my 28 years of service at the
department of public health. But I really want to emphasize
that success is never a solo achievement.
it's a team effort and I'm incredibly grateful for the
countless colleagues city partners and community
stakeholders that I've had the privilege to collaborate with
collaborate with over the decades.
>> san francisco is my home. >> I moved here very young
and I grew up here and I've called this city home for
nearly 40 years. As a young adult I worked my
way through city college in san francisco state determined to
build a better life for myself and others.
>> I still remember this year excitement of landing my first
role with a part time non benefited position on an hiv
prevention research study. >> what began as a temporary
assignment became an incredible 28 year journey and over time
my work has expanded to include from hiv prevention to overdose
prevention and community engagement.
and my goal has always been very simple to bring people
together creating opportunities to learn, grow and build
lasting partnerships. >> historically there has been
a divide between harm reduction and recovery.
and despite my best efforts during my career to bridge that
gap, I've often found myself navigating a broader conflict.
>> this mission too was deeply personal and is deeply personal
to me. Having lost many loved ones to
overdose and having also celebrated many others who are
thriving in recovery, I know firsthand that a variety of
approaches are vital to a person's journey.
>> regrettably, the civil servants and frontline staff
who lead this vital work have increasingly become targets of
hostility both locally and nationally.
and unfortunate. I experienced that backlash
firsthand simply for championing ending these life
saving efforts. >> yet san francisco has always
been a global trailblazer and I hope our city continues to lead
by standing firm in our core values.
sending a clear message that bullying over differing
opinions has no place here. >> while my time at epa has
ended, I know I will continue to see many of you as I embrace
my next chapter as a proud lifelong resident of san
francisco. Thank you for the privilege of
serving the city allowing me to serve the city and county of
san francisco for these past 28 years.
and I know for certain that I'll see supervisor mendham
because we see each other everywhere.
>> so thank you for did you want to go back?
okay, we're going back inside. Come on.
okay. >> I just want to say thank you
. I think you see many people
from the department here, many people in our community.
I have worked with eileen for far longer than I have and yet
in my a little over a year I've quickly come to know how
incredibly special and unique you are.
and I've said this to you in terms of your grace, your
compassion, your kindness, your desire to bridge different
points of view and ultimately always to make sure we care for
the people we care for here in san francisco.
so I think the folks that work with you both at the department
and the community have seen that and we will never be able
to fill exactly the hole that you are leaving here.
and I think that's very clear that your legacy lives on.
so congratulations and we miss you and we wish you were still
with us. So but I hope you enjoy it.
>> thank you. >> let's try this again
. >> all right.
I would now like to invite the jingling cantonese opera
company to come on up. Shubin chen and anybody with
you? >> come on up.
>> there we go. Excellent.
>> all right. All right, colleagues, it is my
great honor to be presenting a commendation to the jing
in cantonese opera institute today.
for nearly three decades, jingjing has worked to preserve
the centuries old tradition of cantonese opera.
while introducing this art form to new generations
and audiences throughout san francisco and the bay area.
cantonese opera is a traditional performance art
that combines singing live orchestral music, acting
martial arts acrobatics and elaborate costumes to tell
stories drawn from history, folklore, romance and everyday
life. Although it originated in the
cantonese speaking regions of southern china, it has since
spread around the world as chinese immigrants brought
songs performances and stories abroad with them.
the first known performance of cantonese opera in america
actually occurred in san francisco when the hong tong
chinese dramatic company performed in the sansom theater
in 1852. In recognition of its cultural
significance, cantonese opera was inscribed in unesco's
representative list of intangible cultural heritage of
the intangible cultural heritage of humanity.
in 2009, despite its significance, history
and popularity within the chinese community, however,
opportunities to experience and learn about cantonese opera
are limited in the united states.
since its founding in 1997 being one of the few
organizations in northern california dedicated
specifically to presenting cantonese opera to broader
audiences has worked to ensure this tradition continues to be
performed, taught and shared with new audiences.
under the leadership of founder and music director shubin chen,
a fifth generation generation cantonese opera musician
jingjing has hosted regular performances of cantonese opera
complete with a traditional cantonese opera orchestra
elaborate embroidered costumes and headpieces martial arts
and more. Through performances at venues
such as the historic great star theater and participation
in cultural celebrations including aapi heritage month,
the institute has become an important part of san
francisco's arts and cultural landscape, drawing more than
800 audience members each year. Jingjing also hosts more
intimate salons and workshops, training and connecting not
only established performers and musicians but also members
of the community who want to learn more about cantonese
opera jang's work, however, goes beyond preservation.
part of the institute's mission is to ensure that cantonese
opera reaches new audiences evolving and growing as a
living tradition rather than remaining a relic of the past.
through bilingual performances with english subtitles,
educational programing and interactive talkback
sessions, the the institute introduces audiences of all
backgrounds to the history, artistry and cultural
significance of cantonese opera at their annual festival this
may jing brought elected officials and community leaders
from across san francisco. Many of whom were not of
chinese heritage including myself and supervisor söder on
stage to perform fragrant sacrifice one of the most
iconic songs in the cantonese opera repertoire.
>> it was a lot of fun. It was extraordinarily nerve
wracking but I think all the community participants were
grateful for the opportunity to learn more about the tradition
and an event like this can only happen because of an
organization unlike jingjing which actively works to make
cantonese opera accessible to broader audiences and to
encourage new audiences to engage with the art form.
I want to thank everyone at the jing and cantonese opera
institute for all that you do. And with that I want to in well
know I actually want to invite my colleagues to weigh in other
people want to talk. >> supervisor sauter well thank
you president gentleman for bringing this honor before us.
>> it is well-earned and deserved.
I want to appreciate your work to carry this legacy on and to
make sure that it reaches everyone.
and earlier this year when we had the chance to to
participate, it was a treasured memory that that all that will
always live on with me and I appreciate you being so patient
,supportive, kind and welcoming me into your
space. And we just had an incredible
concert there at great star theater.
so thank you for your work every single day to carry this
legacy forward. >> and supervisor chen, thank
you. Civil rights of my moment.
you know, as someone who grew up in canton, you know also
grew up in kent. Cantonese opera I, I really
want to acknowledge everyone who is sitting here actually
you know, our respected elders for continue a continuous
effort and love in preserving our culture and heritage.
>> it's this performance is really I it's a very special
way of continue to tell the chinese stories you know
whether it's history, if folktales stories romance or
loyalty. I have a seven year old she
tried it you know little kids was trying it but again I think
the vocal like the language itself it's requires a lot of
dedication and practices. It's beautiful but it's really
hard to do it. And I also want to acknowledge,
you know, this performance it's also the makeup.
it takes hours to put it on in order to see what is on the
stage and that's our chinese says it takes ten years of
practice. It's just to show you ten
minutes on the stage and seeing a lot of young people actually
it's also engaging through a ding yang's opera and it's to
me it's really warm and also feeling really grateful
and excited and seeing that our heritage is continue to be able
to carry for the next generation.
thank you so much. Well deserved.
congratulation for this well deserved accommodations.
>> thank you. All right now for the
multi-generational family that brings us cantonese opera.
>> come on up. Thank you.
good afternoon everyone. >> my name is annie chen
and I'm kaitlyn chen, our dad cuban chen will be giving his
remarks in cantonese verse and then we will be giving our
english translations
. >> first I would like to
sincerely thank president rafael mendelssohn for
initiating this commendation and thank you to the san
francisco board of supervisors for recognizing and supporting
singing cantonese opera institute.
>> today's honor does not belong to me alone.
it belongs to the entire singing family our apprentices,
opera friends, students, volunteers.
donors. Sponsors.
community partners. Youth participant arts
and everyone who has supported and believed in us throughout
the past 29 years. Today is especially meaningful
to me because three generations of our cantonese opera family
are gathered here together my father, my wife and our
children. >> I would also like to take
this opportunity to say something to my father.
dad thank you. It was my father together with
my grandfather who introduced me to the world of cantonese
opera. >> what they passed on to me
was much more than just music. They pass on a passion and a
responsibility and a mission to me that is the true meaning of
intangible cultural heritage. On this occasion we hope to
share a chapter of cantonese operas history that many people
even here in san francisco may not know.
for many early chinese immigrants including the
railroad workers and laborers who helped build the american
west counties opera performances were an important
way to learn about current events and stay connected to
news from home. >> in many ways cantor's opera
served as one of the earliest forms of community media for
san francisco's chinese community.
>> this history is not only the story of county's opera it is
also part of san francisco story.
>> today's recognition gives us even greater confidence
and determination to continue our work whether in preserving
the art of cantor's opera or expanding education
and outreach to younger audience audiences.
>> finally, I would like to once again thank president
rafael mendelssohn, the board of supervisors and everyone
here today. >> thank you.
all right, come on over here. All right, everybody.
all right. >> oh
,okay. And that takes us back to item
40. And can I have a motion to
excuse supervisor walton from the remainder of the meeting?
moved by jen, seconded by fielder.
we can take that without objection.
supervisor walton is excused for the remainder of the
meeting. >> madam clerk, please call
item number 40. Yes.
item number 40 is a resolution retroactively authorizing the
lease with third street youth center and clinic for the
second and third floors of the property located at 888 post
street for a two year term commencing on july 1st, 2026
for an annual base rent of $1 and making appropriate
findings. >> please call the roll in this
item and item 40. >> supervisor wong wong I
supervisor chan chan. I supervisor chen chen I.
supervisor dorsey dorsey supervisor fielder fielder I
supervisor mahmood mahmood I sober supervisor randleman hi
amanda man I supervisor melgar melgar I supervisor sardar
sardar I supervisor cheryl cheryl either too nice or
without objection the resolution is adopted please
call item 41 item number 41 is a resolution approving the 2026
grant application for the united states department of
housing and urban development continuum of care program with
anticipated revenue to the city in excess of 16 million
and fulfilling the board of supervisors review and approval
process we can take this same house same call without
objection the resolutions adopted please call items 42
and 43 together items 42 and 43 or 2 resolution suspending
board rule 3.20 5.2 which requires an affirmative vote of
eight members and approving settlement of unlit guilty
claims involving an unfair practice charge arising from
employment disputes. Item 42 approve the settlement
with the international federation of technical
engineers local 21 for approximately 201,009 and 43
approves a settlement with the service employees international
union local 10 to 1 for approximately 181,000.
>> same house, same call. Without objection the
resolutions are adopted. Please call item 44.
item number 44 is a motion ordering submitted to the
voters at an election to be held on november 3rd, 2026 an
ordinance amending the business and tax regulations code to
beginning march 1st 2027 eliminate the real property
transfer tax foreclosure exemption for the transfer of
all properties other than the transfer of residential
and mixed use properties with few fewer than five residential
units and to make other nonstop substantive clarifications to
the real property transfer tax and increasing the city's
appropriations limit by the amount of real property
transfer tax collected for four years from november 3rd, 2026.
>> supervisor mahmood thank you president colleagues.
this measure gives san francisco this before you today
voters the opportunity to decide whether a transfer tax
code should reflect the ways to today's commercial real estate
market operates rather than the market that existed decades ago
. Before I go further, I want to
thank the many partners who made this ballot measure
possible our drafting city attorneys carroll report
and scott reiber our partners at de la la ten ski and maggie
mattson, whose work was central to getting this measure to
where it is today. In the mayor's office ned segal
and ali bondi comptroller wagner and grace and spencer
for their rigorous analysis and assessor recorder joaquin
torres and his team for the data that grounds this
conversation. >> I want to thank mayor lurie
as well for initiating this measure together and many
co-sponsors of the board. Supervisors dorsey melgar, chen
wong walton and randleman for standing behind this measure
and the growing list of organizations including seiu 10
to 1, seiu 2015 teamsters and a growing list of organizations
for sponsoring this measure as well.
>> I also want to acknowledge the amendment we adopted
in committee which guarantees that if this measure and any
other measure addressing the transfer tax both passed
in november both will go into effect.
>> this measure also comes at a critical moment for the city's
finances. San francisco is confronting a
serious budget crisis one that has forced difficult trade offs
across city departments and services.
>> it is entirely reasonable to ask whether our tax code is
capturing revenue. It was always meant to capture
not creating a new tax but closing a gap that has grown
substantially as the market has changed.
>> historically the foreclosure exemption was primarily used
in traditional lender foreclosures where a bank took
title and transfer tax was generally paid later when the
lender sold the property. The assessor recorder's data
shows that pattern has shifted dramatically between fiscal
years 2223 to 24 and fiscal year 2025 to 26.
more than half of exemption claims involve properties
valued over $10 million compared to just 4 to 5% in the
preceding 15 years. Sophisticated investors
structuring transactions to take advantage of an exemption
that was never designed with them in mind.
during that same three year period transactions involving
income producing and investment oriented properties account for
more than $450 million in transfer taxes that
otherwise would have been generated compared with roughly
50 million over the prior 15 years combined.
>> the comptroller's estimate office estimates that this
measure would increase our real property transfer tax revenues
by an average of 100 to $150 million annually over the next
five years. Meaningful revenue we cannot
afford to leave on the table. Though the comptroller was
candid that it will be unpredictable and cyclical tied
to foreclosure activity and real estate conditions.
>> importantly, this proposal does not eliminate the
exemption for homeowners or small residential properties.
it remains in place for single family homes, smaller
multifamily properties with fewer than five units
and qualifying small mixed use properties.
the measure ask only whether a larger commercial investment
property transfer should continue to receive the same
treatment under today's market conditions.
>> ultimately a policy question about whether the tax code is
operating as originally intended or whether it should
be updated in light of how dramatically the marketplace
has changed. Colleagues, I'm asking to send
this to the voters so that they can decide for themselves
whether that this is the moment to close that gap.
supervisor cheryl thank you president mandel and I'm going
to be supportive of this but it's not without reservation.
>> right now we're in a situation where a huge number
of things are contributing to a very high cost of construction
for housing, a very high cost of transaction for downtown
office buildings that we desperately need to be sold
and rehabilitated and and reinvigorated.
and this will be a slight slight added cost, not a huge
one. And so I would urge us to be
aware that this measure looks to provide balance and gives us
more optionality as we look forward to levers like the
broader transfer taxes that might be blocking especially
certain housing construction. And so I would encourage us as
we look forward past november should this pass at the ballot
to not think of this as a new source of revenue to allow us
to possibly spend more on things but as a way to give us
the flexibility to potentially consider lowering a transfer
tax that would allow us to build more housing that we
desperately need. I think the conversation around
the housing trust fund is incredibly important because it
has us as a city saying we value affordable housing
and we're willing to put our money there.
similarly on this side I think we need to look forward and say
hey, where we're addressing a gap, a loophole if you will,
in in the tax code with this we're going to fill that gap.
but at the same time it gives us flexibility to maybe lower
transfer taxes blocking the production of other housing.
so I with reservations I will be supporting this but I would
urge us to remember that the original intent behind this was
not to create a new stream of income in a vacuum but was
intended to balance out the potential reduction of other
income streams in order to incentivize more housing
production that will help san franciscans overall.
thank you. >> okay.
and with that I think we can take this item.
so same house, same call. >> without objection the motion
is approved. >> madam clerk, please call
items 45 and 46 together. >> items 45 and 46 are two
resolutions regarding the treasure island infrastructure
and revitalize ation financing district.
item 45 is the resolution of intention to issue bonds as a
result of an annexation of property and 46 is a resolution
approving annexation supplement to the amended and restated
infrastructure findings infrastructure financing plan.
>> let's take these items same house same call without
objection the resolutions are adopted and please call items
47 through 68 together items 47 through 68 are 22 ordinances
amending the planning code to designate various properties as
landmarks and making the appropriate findings.
item 47 designates the alexander adams home located at
1450 masonic avenue. >> item 48 designates a born
home located at 99 davis adero street.
item 49 designates a charles cat's home located at 1200
delores street. Item 50 designates the charles
l hinkle home located at 740 castro street.
item 51 designates a day eurostat eur euros d home james
c hormel mansion located at 181 buena vista avenue east.
item 52 designates the double triangle greek revival home
located at 2173 15th street. Item 54 designates the early
haight ashbury farmhouse located at 11 piedmont street.
item 54 designates elliott and wilson home located at 1335
guerrero street. Item 55 designates engine
company number 44 adams van house house located at 3816
22nd street. Item 56 designate guerrero
street double stick eastlake home located at 1415 1417 grove
street. Item 57 designates a henry
street rowhouses located at 190 121 97 henry street.
item 58 designates a holy innocents church located at 455
fair oak street. Item 59 designates the john j.
clark house located at 210 douglas street.
item 60 designates a mission congregational church located
at 3689 19th street. Item 61 designates the phenix
brewery located at 552 no east street.
item 62 designates the richard spreckels mansion buena vista
studios located at 737 bueno vista avenue west.
item 63 designates the second church of christ scientist
located at 651 dolores street. Item 64 designates its anarchy
house located at 657 cannery street.
item 65 designates a william shaughnessy home located at 394
fair oak street. Item 66 designates a fernando
nelson home located at 701 castro.
item 67 designate solange house located at 199 coral street.
and finally item 68 designates engine company number 33
located at 117 broad street all right, let's take these items.
same house, same call. Without objection, the
ordinances are passed on first reading please call item 69.
>> item 69 is a motion approving the mayor's
nomination for the appointment of lindsay mcaleese to the
building inspection commission term ending july 1st, 2028.
>> same house, same call. >> without objection the motion
is approved. Please call item 70 item 70 is
a motion approving the mayor's nomination for the
reappointment of eleanor elinor bloom to the public works
commission. Term ending july second 2030.
>> same house, same call. Without objection the motion is
approved. Please call item 71.
>> item 71 is a motion approving the mayoral
nomination for the reappointment of john trice
trustee now to the board of appeals term ending july 1st,
2013. >> same house, same call
without objection the motion is approved.
>> please call item 72. Item 72 is a motion approving
the mayor's nomination for the reappointment of justice joshua
rsa to the public utilities commission term ending august
first, 2013. >> same house, same call.
without objection the motion is approved.
please call item 73. >> item 73 is a motion
approving the president of the board of supervisors rafael
mendelssohn's nomination for the reappointment of robin
covello to the board of appeals term ending july 1st, 2013.
>> same house, same call. >> without objection the motion
is approved. Please call 74.
>> item 74 is a motion reappointing kimberly hartwig
shulman term ending july 1st, 2030 to the sanitation
and streets commission. >> same house, same call.
without objection, the motion is approved.
let's go to our committee reports.
>> please call item 75. I'll first start with item 75
through 77 were considered by the land use and transportation
committee on july 27th and forwarded to the board as
committee reports item 75 it was recommended as amended with
the same title. It is an ordinance accepting
irrevocable offers of public infrastructure associated with
the hunter's view hope s.f. Project phase two dedicated
and said public improvements for public use dedicating them
for public street and roadway purposes excepting for city
maintenance and liability purposes.
establishing an official street grade sideways sidewalk list
and public right away with accepting an offer dedication
for phase two easements delegating authority to accept
the phase three public infrastructure affirming the
school determination and making the appropriate findings same
house same call without objection the ordinance is
passed on first reading please call 76 item 76 was recommended
as amended with a new title. It is a resolution adding the
commemorative street name carlotta textured or del
portico tollway on bartlett street between 21st street
and 22nd street in recognition of dr. Carlotta textured otel
del portillo's leadership in establishing the city
college of san francisco's mission campus and her legacy
as a longtime civic and educational leader.
>> same house, same call. >> without objection the
resolutions adopted please call 77 item 77 is a resolution of
intent to initiate an undergrounding process for
homestead street between 24th and 25th streets and making
findings that undergrounding at this location is a general
benefit to the public. >> same house, same call.
without objection the resolutions adopted please call
78 through 81 together. >> yes.
item 78 through 30 through 81 were considered by the public
safety neighborhood services committee on july 23rd and were
forwarded to the board as committee reports they comprise
four resolutions determining the public convenience or
necessity of various liquor licenses and requesting that
alcoholic beverage control impose conditions on the
issuance of these licenses. Item 78 is a person to person
permits to persons transfer of a type 48 on sell general
public premises beer, wine and distilled spirits liquor
license to out of sight productions doing businesses
ranging in models located at 456 to 460 larkin street.
item 79 is a types 64 on sell general theater liquor license
to uptown tenderloin doing business as tenderloin museum
located at 835 larkin street. Item 80 what is a person to
person premise to permits transfer of a type 21 off sell
general beer wine and distilled spirits liquor license to
missing liquor doing business as college market located at
995 elm street. And finally item 81 is a person
to permit person premise to premises transfer of a type 20
off sell beer and wine liquor license to h.j. M.w. Enterprise
doing business says hello mart located at 2135 buchanan street
. >> same house, same call.
without objection the resolutions are adopted.
>> please call item 82 items 82 through 85 were considered by
the rules committee on july 27th and were forwarded to the
board as committee reports item 82 as a motion approving the
mayor's nomination for the reappointment of kate stacy to
the public utilities commission term ending august 1st, 2013
and we can take this same house same call without objection the
motion is approved please call 83.
>> item 83 is a motion approving the mayor on
nomination for the appointment of mike chen to the planning
commission term ending june 30th 2030.
>> same house, same call. >> without objection the motion
is approved. >> please call items 84 and 85
together items 84 and 85 or 2 motion and motions approving
the president of the board of supervisor rafael mendelssohn's
nomination for appointments to the planning commission.
item 84 is for elizabeth mcdonald with the term ending
july 1st, 2030 and item 85 is for joe koppel term ending july
1st 2030. >> same house, same call.
>> without objection the motions are approved.
and madam clerk, let's go to roll call.
first up, a roll call to introduce new business today
will be supervisor wong notes here colleagues today I am
introducing a resolution to accept a $1 million in state
funding for the sunset boulevard recycled water air
station improvement project sunset boulevard has a
tremendous amount of open space running through the
neighborhood but much of it is currently dry, patchy and not
nearly as green or welcoming as it should be.
years of drought deferred maintenance and problems of the
existing irrigation system have taken a visible toll.
>> this project is an important step toward changing that.
>> the funding will help connect the irrigation system
serving approximately 60 acres of medians and roadside
greenspace to san francisco's recycled water system that will
eliminate the use of potable drinking water for irrigation
and conserve an estimated 40 million gallons of potable
water every year. This resolution will not
transform the boulevard overnight but reliable
sustainable irrigation is essential if we want to restore
the landscaping, support healthier trees and plantings
and make better use of this large public space.
I want to thank senator scott weiner for his work
in sacramento to secure the state investment.
his efforts made this funding possible and we appreciate his
partnership in delivering critical infrastructure
improvements for san francisco. I also want to thank our
partners at the department of public works for advancing this
important project. The sunset deserves the same
level of attention and investment that the city
gives to prominent public spaces elsewhere.
this is a practical, much needed investment in the
neighborhood and I respectfully ask for its support.
>> thank you. Process.
thank you. Supervisor wong.
supervisor chen. Thank you.
supervisor chen. >> thank you, madam clerk.
colleague today I'm introducing a resolution to recognize july
28th, 2026 as wool hepatitis day in san francisco.
in 2020 the world health organization declared july 28th
as wool hepatitis day to honor nobel prize winner scientist
dr. Baruch blumberg who discovered a hepatitis b virus
in san francisco. It's estimated that 15,000
residents are living with chronic hepatitis hepatitis b 1
in 12 asian pacific islander adult immigrants a
disproportionate alley affected by hepatitis b deaths by
effective vaccines. Happy happy continues to impact
our communities. It is essential to continue
providing accessible screening treatments and raise
educational awareness. This resolution recognized two
health care professionals advocates in san francisco
happy free who work tirelessly to provide accessible care
community education and who advocate for state legislation
mandating primary care physician to offer screenings
to individuals at risk. But most importantly it urges
health care providers to continue providing prevent it
preventative hepatitis screening, accessible care
and to continue educational outreach to ensure our
communities are healthy. >> I would like to thank my
colleagues supervisor chen fielder, madam wong and walton
for your early co-sponsorship. >> next colleagues I would like
to introduce another resolution urging khizr to drop his
terrible three contract demands.
>> this comes as a follow up to the hearing that we held at
last week's committee of the whole.
we heard from clinicians and experts about problematic
contract demands that have the possibility of negatively
impacting the quality of care that patients receive due to a
potential for layoffs of staff clinicians increased it
outsourcing of care and referral of larger number
of patients onto artificial intelligence therapy platforms.
I have serious concerns about the use of ai or machine
learning for clinical treatment and clinical triage.
as I said during the hearing I'm not against technology but
without meaningful data and evidence that emerging
technologies ready for the kind of work that is allegedly being
employed whit through kaiser. We rise putting patients
in harm's way ai and other machine learning emerging
technologies are not obligated to patient care or wellness.
they do not take hippocratic oath.
if someone is seeking out a health care provider to inquire
about behavioral health treatments they deserve at
minimum to be assessed by a licensed clinicians on intake.
>> this resolutions urged kaiser to drop its terrible
three contract limits and requests that day come to
the bargaining table in good faith.
and what intentions of upholding the highest quality
standards of care as possible. Thank you to my colleague
supervisor walton chan fielder for their early co-sponsorship
and the rice I submitted. >> thank you.
thank you. Supervisor chen supervisor
dorsey. Thank you.
supervisor fielder. Thank you madam clerk please be
referred to me after my colleagues the writer bill gars
in memoriam. >> supervisor mahmud colleagues
as part of our continuing effort to address food
insecurity I am submitting a letter of inquiry today to the
city administrator and the director of real estate to
learn more about san francisco's municipal property
portfolio and how it can be used to support future
investments in food security. From what I've heard from
residents in district five accessing affordable, healthy
groceries is an issue in many of our neighborhoods
and grocery stores closing and tariffs affecting the costs
of goods. That is a problem that will
only get worse and make san francisco harder and harder to
live in for those whose incomes can't keep pace with rising
costs, the city has some data on its real estate but this
information isn't easily accessible or compiled in a way
to help leaders and community partners plan for potential new
food distribution and retail uses the ask in this letter is
for a complete inventory of city owned property including
vacant parcels, underutilized buildings and ground floor
commercial spaces in city owned buildings the neighborhood or
supervisory district in which each property is located the
approximate size of each person in each building and where
available and existing use designation occupancy status or
known constraints for each property.
I hope the results of this otherwise can be helpful to the
rest of my colleagues as well as we consider the city's role
in our neighborhoods just like the budget we approved earlier
today. How the city uses its real
estate is a moral document and should be an honest
expression of our values. This is the first step towards
achieving that. >> the rest I submit.
thank you supervisor. Mr. President.
>> thank you, madam clerk. I have a hearing request, an
ordinance and three in memoriam.
first I calling for a hearing on the progress of the city's
ongoing efforts to address drug markets and open air drug
scenes across san francisco. In may 2023, the city
established the drug market agency coordination center
demak to improve coordination of the city's response to open
air drug markets. Since that time residents
and visitors alike report improvements in street
conditions especially downtown. However, drug scenes have
persisted in historically challenged neighborhoods at
levels of activity that are unacceptable and new areas have
emerged as hubs of drug related activity notably including the
areas around the bart plazas at 16th and 24th streets.
recognizing the deterioration of conditions in the mission,
the administration in june the beginning of june initiated a
90 day period of focused enforcement and other
activities to try to turn the tide.
at this hearing I am interested in better understanding
and also giving the public a better opportunity to
understand the efforts that have been made to reduce street
level drug activity citywide and the more recent specific
efforts focused on the mission. In short, what has worked?
what hasn't and where are we going from here?
I look forward to hearing from the mayor's office, the police
department, the district attorney, the department of
public health, the office of economic and workforce
development and bart and I want to thank supervisor jackie
fielder and supervisor matt dorsey for their co-sponsorship
of this hearing request. >> secondly, earlier this year
the board passed an ordinance submitted for consideration by
the proposition e commission streamlining task force.
you will remember that you may remember this I hope you
remember this. The task force's mandate was to
identify opportunities to modify, consolidate or
eliminate public bodies to improve the administration of
city government while preserving meaningful
opportunity for public engagement.
among other changes, the ordinance established more
standardized structures and membership guidelines
across commissions to improve transparency and consistency
in how these bodies operate. >> the task force's ordinance
established term limits for most of our city's oversight
bodies. However, the members recognized
that term limits might not be necessary or desirable for all
bodies. One such body was the rent
board. The members of the task force
recommended preserving the rent board's current structure with
no term limits. The ordinance was introduced
and passed however inadvertently omitted an
exception to give effect to that direction.
the legislation I'm introducing corrects this and restores the
rent board term limit provision to its original form which is
consistent with what the task force recommended.
I want to thank mitchell omer berg, executive director of the
affordable housing alliance. Meg heisler, policy director
for san francisco communities against displacement.
and polly marshall, a founding member of the affordable
housing alliance and 35 year veteran of the rent board for
identifying and working with mae skelly in my office on this
issue. I also want to thank and new
and the apartment association for their feedback.
and finally I want to thank our deputy city attorney brad russi
for his work drafting the legislation.
>> the first memoriam I have is for jerry fuller.
I'm asking that we adjourn today's meeting in memory of
jerry who died of jerry gerald allen fuller who died on july
14th at the age of 76. He was born in illinois on
september 30th, 1949 and spent his early years in des plaines,
a suburb of chicago before his family moved to nearby mount
prospect. When he was 11 he graduated
high school there in 1967. A lifelong friend once said
that they were the only progressive minded people
in that conservative suburb and growing up in that
environment sparked jerry's lifelong political activism.
in high school he studied french unlike most students.
true, he learned to truly c truly learn to speak it
fluently. And after spending a semester
at the sorbonne he fell in love with paris where he would
return to spend many of his birthdays.
jerry was known for his intelligence and boundless
curiosity. He attended the university of
wisconsin in the late 1960s and early 70s studying
political history. During the height of the
vietnam war protests when the streets around were literally
on fire. After completing his
undergraduate studies, jerry moved to washington, d.c. To
pursue a master's degree in international relations at
george washington university. Later transferring to american
university living in georgetown in the mid to late 70s was
jerry's first time living in a city with a visible openly gay
community and culture and d.c. Would remain one of his
favorite cities along with san francisco and of course paris.
in 1980 moved by the community's response to the
assassination of harvey milk, jerry relocated to san
francisco. He got a job at kaiser where he
helped develop one of the first outreach programs for people
living with hiv. During these years he suffered
the loss of many dear friends losses that only reinforced his
commitment to political and community activism.
he worked at kaiser for more than 20 years before retiring
in his early 50s due to attendant injury.
in retirement he discovered a passion for photography taking
classes at city college. >> however, politics remained
his first love. He served on the board of the
alice b toklas lgbtq democratic club in the early to mid 2000s
which is how I met him as a young gay aspiring politico.
he remained active with lgbtq rights organizations and was a
dedicated volunteer at the frame line at frame one
in every city he lived at every job and school.
jerry formed deep lasting friendships in addition to his
intelligence passion for helping others love of art
and literature and sense of humor.
it was this gift of friendship that defined jerry fuller.
he left behind a world full of best friends rest in peace
and power. Jerry fuller.
may your memory be a blessing. I am also asking that we
adjourn today's meeting in memory of jeremiah.
jerry francis halsey. A civic, environmental
and educational leader who died on july 17th at the age of 87.
>> he was born on january 15th, 1939 in boston and moved to the
bay area to earn his juris doctor from the university of
california berkeley school of law.
after earning a bachelor of arts in english literature from
boston college and our master of arts in industrial and labor
relations from cornell university after graduating he
served in the united states army from 1963 to 1969
and following his military service he began a
distinguished legal career that spanned more than five decades.
after being admitted to the california bar in 1966, he
served as a deputy district attorney for contra costa
county and as a staff attorney with the u.s. Securities
and exchange commission. He went on to co-found the
offices of halsey and johnson in san francisco in 1970 where
he specialized in california energy and labor law even after
leaving his full time roles in public service, however,
halsey remained committed to serving the public.
over the years he held a number of leadership positions
in various civic and educational organizations,
including his 20 year tenure as a trustee of the california
construction industry labor management cooperation trust.
beginning in 2006, he also served on the california
transportation commission where he was vice chairman the
california economic development commission, the california
state coastal conservancy and the university of
california board of regents. He was deeply involved
in democratic party politics playing key roles in the
campaigns of governors edmund g.
brown jr gray davis and gavin newsom and fundraising for
democratic candidates at the national level including
presidents jimmy carter, bill clinton, barack obama and joe
biden. Halsey's catholic faith was a
guiding force throughout his life shaping the way he
approached his work, relationships and service to
others. Guided by the church's
teachings, he consistently sought opportunities to care
for those around him and help those in need.
he was known for being a whether enthusiast and for his
love of books and eclectic art. Many remember him as an
institution at the institution of sam's grill.
additionally, while he eventually embraced the san
francisco 40 niners and california golden bears he
never lost his boston accent or his loyalty to the boston red
sox and boston bruins. Our condolences go out to his
sons jeremy and sean, his stepson charlie johnson and the
many extended family members friends, colleagues and and
clients who loved him. Rest in peace, jeremiah halsey.
may your memory be a blessing. And finally I'm asking that we
adjourn today's meeting in memory of sidney alan
johnston who died far, far too young.
on june 26th, 2026 at the age of 40 she grew up in marin
county, received both her undergraduate degree and mba
from the university of the university of san francisco,
said it was named for her grandmother who along with her
grandfather gus bought john's grill in 1969 and turned it
into the landmark restaurant it is today.
cydney often worked behind the bar at john's grill and was
known for her warmth, quick wit and her genuine interest
in each and every customer. Her gift for connecting with
others led her to a career in hospitality.
although she later moved to greece, san francisco remained
an important part of her life. She continued to stay connected
to john's grill and collaborated on projects
with her brother including the john ellis block party and the
hello local podcast. Friends and family remember
sadness as event as adventurous, joyful giving
and devoted to her family. She is survived by her parents
john and athena constantine. Her brother john constant jr.
and his fiancee lindsay her nieces athena and leah.
and many beloved cousins. We want to send our profound
and deep condolences to the family.
rest in peace and power sad now.
may your memory be a blessing. >> and the rest I submit.
thank you, mr. President. Supervisor melgar.
thank you. I'd like to be added to the
in memoriam for as a constant please.
colleagues today I'm also submitting an in memoriam along
with my colleague supervisor fielder and supervisor walton
in honor of my dear friend dr. Estella reyes garcia whose
life's work has transformed the health and well-being of
generations of san franciscans. Dr. Estella reyes garcia was a
partner at the a sister, a leader, a chicana and activist
,a psychologist, a mentor, a jokester and so many other
things to so many people. She carried warmth and humor
alongside deep wisdom and she was tough.
she understood that healing did not happen only in a clinical
office. Healing happened
in relationships with family community land ancestors
ceremony, any language, music movement and collective
struggle. Throughout her life and career,
dr. Garcia worked to improve the mental, emotional,
spiritual and communal well-being of chicano, latino
indigenous and across all communities in san francisco.
she is known for her approximately 35 years at
instituto familia de la raza including 15 years as its
executive director and leader. Her story is one of
perseverance, service and an unwavering commitment to
uplifting our chicano, latino and indigenous communities.
from her childhood working alongside her mother
and siblings in california's central valley to earning
degrees from city college of san francisco, uc santa cruz,
uc berkeley and a doctorate from ucsf's langley porter
institute dr. Garcia has never forgotten where she comes from
and who she serves. Under her leadership, instituto
has become a model for culturally responsive care
providing vital services that recognize that true wellness is
an emotional spiritual, cultural and social.
throughout her work, countless individuals and families have
found support, dignity and hope a defining feature of dr.
garcia's work with her conviction that meaningful
healing must recognize the cultural and spiritual lives of
the people seeking support. Under her leadership ifr
brought together clinical services family support, youth
development prevention, peer support, community organizing,
traditional practices in different forms of healing.
darker garcia describes healing as a continuum that included
prevention, treatment, emotional wellness, spiritual
wellness and behavioral health. She emphasized that no single
practice professional, disciplined or healing
tradition was enough on its own.
people and communities need many medicines and those can
include therapy but they also can include healing circles
ceremony prayer allthat is dance art music movement
storytelling laughter food family participation elder
guidance community gatherings and connection to the
ancestors. >> her philosophy rejected the
idea that professional mental health treatment had to be
separated from wants culture and spiritual practice.
she understood that such a separation often reflected a
system that had historic dismissed indigenous knowledge
and treated western clinical models as the only legitimate
form of care. Dr. Garcia instead affirmed
that ancestral knowledge and community traditions had
always sustained our people. She worked to create spaces
in which clinical practice and traditional ways of healing
could exist together strengthening each other.
one of dr. Garcia's many important contributions is san
francisco with her advocacy for both indigenous residents from
mexico, central america and further south as well as
her support in bridge building with the american indian
community. Many indigenous immigrants to
san francisco encountered health, housing, immigration,
education and social service systems that were just not
prepared to recognize their languages, their cultures,
histories, migration experiences.
indigenous residents were often grouped broadly into latino
categories making their distinct identities and needs
invisible. Dr. Garcia understood that this
invisibility was not simply admin and an administrative
problem excuse me but it was part of a longer history of
colonization and cultural erasure.
the indigenous health and wellness initiative began
through association mab in response to the needs of san
francisco's yoga tech and mayan community and dr. Garcia's
advocacy helped secure dedicated funding for
indigenous communities. Under her leadership, ifr
initiated and supported many programs and efforts that
continue to this day to serve indigenous people from across
latin america with greater attention to mental health,
cultural identity, migration and trauma.
>> dr. Garcia also played a formative role in the
development of the road map to peace, a community initiative
created in response to violence affecting young latino
residents. Following the loss of several
young people in 24, the 2014 community organizations
and leaders began meeting to develop according needed
response. Dr. Garcia made clear that the
community could not remain inactive while young people
were being lost. She understood that violence as
connected to deep deeper conditions trauma,
disconnection, institutional racism, poverty, neighborhood
displacement, involvement in juvenile and legal
and criminal legal systems, limited economic opportunities
and the loss of cultural identity and belonging wrote
roadmap to peace brought together the community
and providing combined coordinated services youth
leadership, healing family support, community engagement
and alternatives to involvement in the juvenile and criminal
justice system. Dr. Estella garcia legacy can
be found in the clinicians she mentored.
the organization she strengthens the coalition.
she helped build the ceremonies and healing circles she
supported. The young people many young
people given another path and the families who
encountered services that recognize their full humanity.
it can also be found in the continued practice she left
with all of us. The practice of la quinta
guerra my heart goes out to her spouse robin san miguel thank
you estella for your lifelong commitment to healing our
communities. I also want to thank especially
julius huberty and tracy brown for their collaboration and in
preparing this in memoriam. San francisco is a better,
healthier and more compassionate city because of
dr. Estelle garcia. The doctor is the latter as
garcia and mr. President. Madam clerk, I would like to
turn this over to supervisor fielder to share a few remarks
and then be referred for introductions.
>> thank you. >> thank you so much supervisor
melgar for leading this in memoriam.
I would like to add a few brief remarks on behalf of myself
and district nine to honor the life and legacy of dr. Stella
rae as garcia who played such a pivotal role in the mission
district. Throughout her decades of
leadership and work for social change including over 35 years
at instituto familia de la raza 15 of those at the helm.
dr. Garcia was a beloved mentor and visionary, especially
visible in the countless women leaders who grew up in her
orbit and who are now outspoken changemakers in our city.
dr. Garcia left her mark in advocating for
and implementing public policy and mental health hiv services
and social services to improve access and promote healthy
communities particularly for the latino immigrant community.
the mission district will miss her dearly but remember her
legacy which lives on in ifr and so many of our leaders.
I offer my deepest condolences to her lifelong partner robert
and son miguel, their daughter and nieces mikayla, ana
and esperanza, their grandchildren and their
extended community looks like supervisor chen also.
>> thank you person. Don't mind.
thank you. Thank you supervisor malkia for
giving us the opportunity to recognize the many
contributions that dr. Garcia blasted our community with.
not only did she help build ifr into what is today but she had
a direct impact and influence over the wellness and safety of
so many families in our neighborhoods.
her innovation, grit and love for community will be
remembered for generations. I'm also sending my love to our
family. Thank you for sharing her with
our city. May her memory be a blessing.
>> thank you. >> thank you.
and supervise your melgar. You wanted to finish your roll
call for introductions. Thank you, madam clerk.
today I am introducing a hearing request along with
supervisors dorsey chen chan and fielder for a joint meeting
between the commission on the status of women and the board
of supervisors public safety and neighborhood services
committee. The staffing needs policies
and procedures for responding to and addressing reports of
sexual assault. >> last march we held a hearing
on the severe understaffed understaffing and policies for
the san francisco police department's special victims
unit. >> the hearing illuminated the
critical consequences of an understaffed team tasked with
some of the most egregious cases of sexual assault
domestic violence, human trafficking and the toll that
it takes on overworked investigators.
while staffing remained difficult to address, there was
still a commitment and immediate steps that were
taken after the hearing to alleviate the strains of the
special victims unit into strengthened protocols.
there has been some progress but we still have a long way to
go. >> last week the san francisco
standard reported on how difficult it remains to
navigate the process even when a survivor follows all the
steps, collects evidence and even has a suspect match.
it demonstrates that there is a culture that prevails where
sexual assault is not provided the same level of urgency
and sensitivity which leads to survive.
survivors refraining from reporting or speaking up when
there is a sexual assault. San francisco's rape case
clearance rate has dropped significantly to the point
where there are we are at half the national rate with only 14%
of rapes cleared. If we want survivors to feel
safe coming forward, it is up to us to show how we will be
held accountable to serving them with dignity and a sense
of urgency. The commission on the status of
women also discussed this issue last week so that is why I am
calling the joint hearing with our public safety
and neighborhood services committee today.
we want this hearing to focus on next steps for improving the
outcomes and the handling of sexual assault reports.
this is about collaboration and bringing together resources
so we can center survivors and make improvements.
I want to thank the mayor's office the victim and witness
services, the office of sexual harassment and assault response
and prevention. Sharp the san francisco police
department the department of the status of women and the
mayor's office for their willingness both
in collaboration and thank you to chair dorsey of the public
safety neighborhood services committee for your partnership.
the rest I submit thank you supervisor or supervisor sauter
colleagues. >> housing continues to be the
defining crisis of our day. Rents are crushing the very
people who make this city run and are keeping out countless
members of the next generation who want to live their san
francisco dream. We need to respond to this
emergency by both building more homes and supporting existing
tenants, keeping renters in their homes and ensuring
these homes are affordable and in good condition.
>> must absolutely be part of our response to the housing
crisis. So today I'm introducing three
items which respond to the increasing pressure that
renters find themselves under in today's hot housing market.
>> first I'm introducing a drafting request to update
and strengthen san francisco's elevator ordinance.
>> and before I tell you what the legislation is, I want to
tell you why I'm doing this. It's because of the tenants at
845 california that I have met over this past year almost 100
of my constituents, different agents, different backgrounds,
all who have had to bond together out of necessity
because their elevators have been broken nearly nonstop.
an elevator outage might seem like an abstract problem until
you hear directly from the people it hurts.
so this summer I visited f45, california and met the people
impacted by this. I met an amazing 94 year old
woman who has contributed decades of her life to san
francisco but is now isolated from the city she loves.
I met a man who suffered cardiac arrest in his apartment
and when the paramedics arrived he had to walk himself down
many flights of stairs because the elevator was broken.
I met a woman who told me how she struggles to carry her dog
in one hand and groceries in the other as she traverses
the steep stairs. >> I met neighbor after
neighbor who shared that they now go out less because of the
elevator outages and skipping seeing friends, limiting
groceries and putting off doctor appointments or even
surgeries because of the uncertainty.
and I saw that eight flights of winding narrow, disjointed
stairs stand between them and their normal lives
and activities in san francisco .
despite nearly 30 formal building complaints repeated
outreach from my office and tenant complaints, the
property owner has been evasive and noncommittal in their
responsibility to fix the elevators.
they constantly play a cat and mouse game in making
temporary fixes to evade building inspections and forced
tenants to wade through endless mazes of phone trees to try
and reach a real human being. >> and while these elevators
stop broken month after month, this landlord has been
marketing a 400 square foot studio in the very same
building for $4,200 a month. And the listing even promised a
quote elevator for effortless access.
>> after I toured the building. I was left dismayed and angry.
the property owner clearly needs to answer for their own
neglect but our city can do more to our current elevator
ordinance is light on specifics and gives bad actors far too
much leeway when an elevator doesn't actually reliably serve
tenants. >> so today's drafting request
will ask that the city attorney work to update san francisco's
elevator ordinance in a number of ways, including requiring
that property owners have a responsibility to maintain all
elevators as fast as operable at all times and setting a
clear deadline for repairs to be completed.
requiring that relocation options be provided by property
owners to certain populations that need accommodations for
outages longer than 24 hours. Requiring that more notices
and electronic communications be posted and sent immediately
for all outages including translation for city supported
languages. >> we will also examine fees
and enforcement schedules for building violations related to
elevator outages and clarify remedies and anti retaliation
protections available to tenants when their access to
their homes is limited is limited by elevator outages.
>> I believe that a working elevator in an apartment is not
an amenity or a luxury. It is a core housing service.
and so this legislation says simply if you profit from a
building you're responsible for keeping it livable.
>> next I'm introducing a budget and legislative
analyst's request to consider improvements for san francisco
whose policy regarding banked rent increases banked rent is
the practice of a landlord skipping an annual allowable
rent increase and instead saving or banking the unused
percentage. And under today's policy
landlords have the option to add this bank rent increase at
a future date to the same tenant with no limits.
this can lead to a large rent increase in future years that
can be hard to expect or absorb all at once.
in today's hot market we're seeing bank rent use as a tool
to push tenants out with large increases rent increases that
are untenable. This is especially concerning
around the sale of new buildings which was the case at
1120. Jackson in my district where a
92 year old and her neighbors are fighting evictions here.
banks rent was first used as an incentive for the building as
it was marketed having a 224% rental upside achievable
through unit turnover and then bankrupt bank banked rent was
weaponized to bring sudden rent increases that no tenant could
absorb overnight. I believe there are guardrails
that we should consider which will help us avoid these
scenarios. Every other city that allows
bank rent has guardrails every single one except san
francisco. And we have literally been
called the wild west of rent banking because of this.
>> so our bill a report will look at limits and protections
that other cities have enacted and consider how they might
impact san francisco tenants, property owners and the overall
rental market. >> finally I am introducing
hearing requests on the topic of rental scams a practice that
is becoming more sophisticated and deceptive in this brutal
rental market. San franciscans searching for
housing are increasingly targeted by rental scams
listing listings for apartments that simply don't exist.
scammers posing as landlords or property managers as requests
for deposits or first month's rent before reviewing
and fraudulent subletting schemes that exploit the city's
competitive rental market. These scams disproportionately
hit renters with the least room for financial loss students new
arrivals, low income tenants and immigrants navigating an
unfamiliar housing search process for the first time.
>> so our hearing will examine the scope of this problem
in san francisco. What protections currently
exist and what more are the city can do to warn people
before money changes hands? A special thanks to chief
assistant treasurer amanda freed for her work in elevating
this issue and her office's commitment to consumer
protections in a brutal housing market.
>> we need to step up how our city protects renters and long
time tenants. My message to those seeking to
exploit today is competitive market is clear.
if you own a building, keep the elevator running.
if you're going to raise the rent, don't spring years of
increases on someone overnight. And if you're advertising an
apartment it should actually exist.
so I look forward to turning this work into legislation
in the months ahead to better protect san francisco renters.
I want to thank michelle andrews for my team for her
work on all of these items and for approaching both the
human stories and legislative side with care
and consideration. I also want to thank city
attorneys including brad rossi, megan ryan and rob coppola for
their partnership on these items and the rest.
>> I submit. >> thank you.
supervisor supervisor cheryl smith thank you.
scene no other names on the roster mr. President.
>> that concludes roll call for introduction.
let's go to public comment. >> all right.
at this time the board of supervisors welcomes your
general public comment. In person speakers will be
prioritized so please line up on the right hand side of the
chamber. Those joining us remotely
superstar three now to line up in the remote queue.
during general public comment you may speak to the approval
of the june 23rd board meeting minutes.
the june 22nd june 24th and june 2nd june 25th.
budget and appropriation committee minutes.
items 88 through 95 the items under the for adoption without
committee reference calendar and any other general matters
that are not on today's agenda but must be within the board's
subject matter jurisdiction. >> all other agenda content
will have been reported out to the board by an appropriate
committee where the public comment requirement occurred.
as I indicated at the beginning of the meeting, the board has
also approved a rule to address disorderly public comment.
members of the public must keep their comments germane to
matters within the jurisdiction of the board.
any comments that contain personal attacks, harassment or
discriminatory remarks directed to a city employee or board
member outside the scope of this body and shall be
redirected? Failure to immediately redirect
your comments will result in your forfeiture of remaining
time and we will transition to the next speaker.
also please remember to address your comments to the board as a
whole and not to individual members.
>> first person. Good evening supervisors.
my name is amelia. District nine speaking in my
individual capacity in the last two weeks I have walked over 23
miles across our city across our system of care.
the crisis centers, shelters, rehabs, drop in centers, food
distribution sites, supportive housing sites.
I had to tell them they may be witnessing the removal of peer
counselors from the street crisis response team from
frontline workers to directors. No one that I spoke to had
heard it anywhere else. They count on the non-uniformed
peer support backed by our traditional first responders
when they call 911 for their people.
our people. One person on foot in door to
door during off hours should not be the communication
strategy for a policy change of this consequence within a
city's administration focused on coordination, accountability
and outcomes. Some of the sentiments of those
conversations are already public record.
in the 70 letters you have all received in your board packets
from the last two weeks alone if we really are to break the
cycle, let's start with telling the truth out loud to your
constituents your health care and social service workers.
>> first responders want this. The answer is in your inbox.
I want to be able to solve programmatic issues at the
programmatic level while looking to you for macro level
direction. But I ask right now why would
we forfeit funded high quality care that has mechanisms for
federal and state reimbursement?
in this budget climate. Please sign a letter to the
mayors support the mayor's office to support us regarding
a thorough review before recess.
I am here as a resource whether we are to do the right thing
right now or whether we'll have to someday rebuild the
demolition of a once successful collaboration.
now effective. Now effective august 14th.
>> thank you. Thank you for your comments.
>> next speaker. >> good morning president
mandell men, members of the board of supervisors and my
fellow san franciscans. My name is eva seligman and I
am honored to serve as a legislative intern
and supervisor dorsey's office. I am also a proud native of san
franciscan. >> currently I study at boston
university frederic party school of global studies where
I study international relations and history.
>> it is my privilege to stand before you today to introduce a
resolution that I helped authored establishing a
fentanyl awareness and remembrance day in the city
and county of san francisco. >> for the past four years
supervisor dorsey has been a leading voice in advancing a
recovery first approach to the drug crisis in our city an
approach that prioritizes treatment, rehabilitation,
prevention and public safety. This resolution builds upon
that important work by recognizing the profound impact
fentanyl has had on our communities and honoring the
lives we have lost. Funnel has fundamentally
changed the landscape of the overdose crisis in san
francisco. It is more potent, more
dangerous and more unpredictable all than previous
substances and it has left families, neighborhoods
and communities across our city devastated.
>> behind every number and every statistic there is a
person there is a loved one a neighbor, a friend, a family
member, a son, a daughter, a valued member of this
community. >> this resolution creates an
opportunity to honor those individuals, support those who
continue to grieve and raise awareness about the ongoing
dangers of fentanyl. Fentanyl awareness
and remembrance day is not only about looking back
and remembering those we have lost.
it is also about looking forward with greater awareness,
stronger prevention efforts and a renewed commitment to
pursuing solution that saves lives.
>> san francisco has always been a city that confronts
difficult challenges with compassion and courage
and action. >> by recognizing this day we
affirm our commitment to supporting those impacted by
the crisis. I respectfully ask for you to
support this resolution. Thank you very much.
thank you for your comments. >> speakers good afternoon
president man woman members of the board.
>> my name is mahoney seabury and I have the privilege of
serving as a legislative aide to supervisor matt dorsey.
>> I'm deeply honored to stand before you not only as a member
of a staff but as a proud afghan-american speaking on
behalf of item 88 recognizing august as afghan-american
heritage month. >> this resolution represents
something I have never imagined that I would see growing up to
stand in this chambers as an afghan-american serving the
people of san francisco and representing a resolution
recognizing my own community is both humbling and deeply
meaningful. It is a reminder that
representation matters and that every community deserves to see
its story reflected in the institutions that serve them.
this resolution also represents the continuation of a journey
that began here in this chamber back in 2023.
I had the privilege of drafting san francisco's first
afghan-american heritage resolution and at the time I
hope that it would become more than a proclamation I hoped it
would become a tradition one that ensured future generations
of african americans would not only see their heritage
recognized but their contribution asians celebrated.
>> today I am incredibly proud to say that that vision has
grown beyond san francisco. Earlier this year in march, the
state of california officially recognized afghan-american
heritage month building upon the momentum that began began
here at the board of supervisors.
>> it is a powerful reminder that meaningful change often
begins at the local level. This year also marks another
historic first for the first time in conjunction with afghan
american heritage month, the board of supervisors is
recognizing afghan americans for their extraordinary service
to our city and our state. These honorees are more than
accomplished professionals. They are examples of african
americans that have contributed to california for decades
quietly serving, quietly leading and giving back.
>> this is why this resolution matters.
I want to personally thank supervisor matt dorsey for his
unwavering support and for championing this resolution
and I thank each of you for recognizing the extraordinary
contribution. >> thank you for your comments
. >> next speaker.
>> good afternoon supervisors. I am richard knee, a journalist
and former member of the sunshine ordinance task force.
I'm speaking on behalf of the society of professional
journalists northern california chapter and the pacific media
workers guild. >> news guild cwa local three
9521. >> at least one of you has
expressed a desire to fill the task force with members who
take a so-called pragmatic approach toward sunshine law
compliance delaying appointment of those who have already
applied and in some cases been vetted by spca and the league
of women voters is anything but pragmatic.
>> you are forcing the task force to go on hiatus causing
build up of a backlog of sunshine related complaints
and delaying redress for those who have filed them.
it is not the task force's job to be more friendly or more
adversarial towards city officials and agencies.
the task force's job is to encourage and monitor sunshine
law compliance without fear or favor.
>> at least one of you argues that the volume of record
requests makes it difficult for city officials and agencies to
do their job. >> sunshine law compliance is
part and parcel of that job. >> but rather than make sure
that those officials and agencies have sufficient
staffing and resources to meet record requests, some of you
want instead to blame the requesters for exercising their
right to know about city policies and actions and their
bases. A tactic straight out of the
author authority tarion playbook is a wrongheaded
approach that will enable backroom dealing and force
sunshine complainants to go to court which will cost the city
potentially millions every year .
>> that is anything but pragmatic.
thank you for your comments. Next speaker.
hello city council and nice to see you jackie.
my name is dee henry and I'm here to discuss something
that's not on the agenda today but stick with me.
>> it will all relate. I want to advocate for a
historically shafted bird. >> I was once like you, jackie
thinking of them as rats of the skies.
I saw dirty scoundrels feeding the dirty birds and it almost
brought me to tears to say that I spat on them.
>> I've heard them called mudguards black plague birds
target practice ice chubby doves dog toys government spies
,alien spies hoochie mamas scaly rats monk jumbos concrete
chicken guzzlers and in some cases as the covid pandemics
patient zero. I would like to offer a moment
of silence for uttering those words.
but it all changed when I moved to san fran.
I was gazing out at the beautiful sunset over the bay
as I cut my toenails and a big bang almost made me chop off my
toe. I went out to the balcony
and heard a faint cuckoo and saw I would become my best
friend and lover. >> little kenny I realized that
these are cuddly, chunky, curious and totally cuckoo for
cocoa puffs creatures and this city has declared war on them.
>> and I'm here to make a stand .
look around. There's spikes on windows.
nets on doorways and the covert pigeon hunting syndicate known
as the parrots. >> I've spent long nights
weeping in the fetal position due to this city's atrocities
towards pages. >> so here are my demands.
>> cuckoo. Here we go, jackie.
okay, everyone. Pigeons on three.
one, two, three. Pigeons.
>> thank you. >> thank you for your comments.
next speaker. >> good afternoon.
my name is yahia buzzard. I'm here today with care the
council on american-islamic relations and we support the
resolution recognizing south asian american heritage month
in san francisco. >> for generations south asian
americans have shaped the fabric of san francisco through
their contributions to the city's culture economy, public
service and civic life. >> the south asian american
community is incredibly diverse encompassing muslim dalit sick
tamil bengali napoli, indo caribbean and many other
communities whose histories and contributions deserve to be
recognized and celebrated. Recognizing south asian
american heritage month uplifts many stories, identities
and contributions especially at a time when south asians
continue to face discrimination ,hate and erasure.
>> we are grateful to supervisor mahmood
and commissioner kudarat, continues chaudhry for their
leadership on this resolution. We respectfully urge the board
to unanimously support the resolution and to continue
celebrating the invaluable contributions of south
asian-americans in san francisco.
>> thank you. Thank you for your comments.
>> next speaker I abhor this colonial u.s. Government of
white christian nationalistic primacy of coerced cisgender
living and heterosexuality of capitalism policing, slavery,
genocide, eco side eugenics all of it but only focusing on that
dream my humanity until I feel my bone dry of its marrow.
I'm aspiring to root more in what makes being human
worthwhile. As corny as it sounds, love is
what makes this fight worth fighting.
love of my soulmate our kitties love of love of saying join
others and helping others find their joyful moments seeing an
uplifting and protecting the humanity of every other person
to everyone feeling like they're about to buckle under
the state sponsored domestic terror.
>> don't give up. >> I won't give up and I hope
you don't either. Related.
what will be the point of human supervisors if a mayor or city
attorney can just use a.I. To generate legislation?
will we get district a.I. Chat bots to address our concerns
instead of five or so humans staffing each district office?
the mayor has open had open eyes ceo sam altman on his
transition team. Just this month it was
announced that our state of california is expanding access
across state government through an anthropic a.I. Partnership.
every government concession to a.I. Replacing the human heart,
intelligence and discretion is a concession to inhumanity
literally. And let me tell you san
francisco and california they're making massive
concessions. >> if there's one thing people
of san francisco should know by now, it's that our mayor does
not support any new taxes nor restrictions on big tech
corporations and real estate. We just saw that when the
mayor dennis supports a proposed tax to encourage
filling empty grocery stores, empty grocery store fronts
and not supporting a resolution supporting a state's bill
against surveillance pricing. >> we have a no new taxes on
the rich mayor and a techno fascist billionaire political
movement has paved its way into city hall paid its way into
city hall transforming san francisco into a red city and a
blue state red not due to communism or socialism but red
due to our mayor's alignment with the trump administration's
agenda. The mayor's approach to
governing is that of a ceo capitalist and tyrannical
and stealing stability and life itself from the homeless, poor
and marginalized. >> thank you for your comments.
next speaker barra supervisors and mayor office of san
francisco. The title of today is any
statically terrifying. Let it be known I'm the
guardian of the title of miss chinatown or san francisco 2018
and miss popular miss chinese international 2019.
in february of 2019 maggie wong came home with the title of
miss popularity of miss chinese international.
despite the fact everyone bet against her by june of 20 19 I
had a change of heart. >> a grudge to me is an act of
nothing more intriguing poising hoping the other person will
die. Let bygones be bygones.
to celebrate my new view I bought my auntie a new iphone.
>> two months later I drove maggie to meet my auntie.
>> auntie. Where is my iphone?
it was a tongue in cheek response that ms. Chinatown is
here it's by my side and here to stay.
>> she took it the wrong way. She thought I was going comedy.
iphone. >> and hand it to maggie.
instead of paying maggie a greeting, she bolted up the
stairs and locked herself in a bathroom.
she cried hysterically uncontrollably and she would
not open the door until I leave.
that ends my journey to the title owner of miss popularity
of miss chinese international. Some of you say oh my god that
is horrible. >> what why done to your
auntie? It is true at certain angle
maggie could be terrifying. >> which brings me I would
prefer not to talk about my destination but my journey.
>> for me doing something as difficult and hard I don't look
at challenge. >> I look at hope.
if the chance for me to clinch a no point zero one chance of
success I would take it because my mom named me lock soo nung
means ability and what do I need to do?
>> thank you. Thank you for your comments.
next speaker. Good evening supervisors.
happy disability pride month. This is elijah logan, director
of the office on disability and accessibility and while I
would love to just talk about all the great work our office
and our departments are doing around excessive ability
including expanding language access for the deaf and hard of
hearing community including best practices for small
businesses in partnership with the office of small business
including some of our great capital efforts there are
moving forward. I would not be doing justice
this disability pride month if I did not talk about my friend
alice wong who has before you a year ago and who lives on
in our memory. And so in honor of alice I will
just read one of her greatest hits.
disabled people have always existed whether the word
disability is used or not. To me disability is not a
monolith nor is it a clear cut binary or disabled.
of disabled and non-disabled. Disability is mutable and ever
evolving. Disability is both apparent
and not apparent. Disability is pain.
struggle, brilliance, abundance and joy.
disability is socio political, cultural and biological.
being visible and claiming a disabled identity brings risks
as much as it brings pride. I am so proud of the work our
city is doing and continuing to do in the space of disability
rights and accessibility. Thank you for your leadership
and support. >> thank you for your comments.
next speaker president. Man woman.
board of supervisors my name is richard chastity peterson.
I want to talk briefly about artificial intelligence and I
think that was brought up briefly and I think katy, one
of the items 86 or something I've been involved
in artificial intelligence since the 1960s believe it or
not at tufts university city. >> I then went to college at
in boston with some of the greatest teachers and at least
in new england I came to san francisco and have continued
artificial intelligence work with both clients and some of
my own personal work. I've developed certain game
boards and things that actually assist in many of the concepts
of artificial intelligence. I want to warn against using
artificial intelligence as a automatic means to enforcement
of many of your governmental regulations.
and this goes not only to the city but to the state as my
trials with the state board state bar show that some tracks
when already set are put in motion by simple oversights
once they're in motion there is rarely anything that you can do
except under extraordinary circumstances.
the other thing is the algorithm is basically and if
then type of an algorithm all algorithms are it.
>> then when you get into generative development then you
get into real trouble because you are allowing other humans
to introduce the algorithms that change your mind.
>> thank you. Thank you for your comments.
>> next speaker
. >> okay.
good afternoon. I'm jessica persico.
my written comments focus on transparency, accountability
and accessibility. You can read them right here.
okay. I also want to thank
mayor lurie for attending today.
I hope you can attend this monday's health commission
meeting at 4 p.m. At room four await the september board
meetings and stay for public comments before signing budgets
and other matters most urgent. Daniel lauria I urge you if
you're watching to not sign one file number 251003 expanding
drug free housing in ways that may add cost risk evictions for
people in recovering and those with mental health conditions.
and worsen our existing housing and health care system because
we know that there's an accessibility crisis.
>> number two file number 250630 the clean up code that
removes reporting labeled obsolete and including that for
hunters point shipyard oversight.
>> residents rely on these to protect our environment and to
keep them protected. I also ask that this board
and anybody watching to work with me to get our federal
medicaid payments back by addressing fraud waste
and abuse. Contact me at gov dot this the
game.com. Please verify and adopt gov dot
dis gamescom as a public resource to anyone watching
this with the means. Please consider a bridge grant
for services affected by medicaid budget cuts such as ss
z s of age and ucsf. >> I also like to thank you for
your comments. Next speaker mr. President w o
duffy. I just recently added a new
supervisor district that I've lived in for about a month
and a half. I lived in chinatown now in a
private hotel and sro hotel private, unsubsidized and the
people there were living in very close quarters to each
other and I just couldn't I was just so impressed the security
and there was no problem with security in the building.
I'm just so impressed with my neighbors their tenacity for
life. This is a building, by the way
no elevator. It's a flight and a half up
from the street and then this floor above that is another
flight and a lot of seniors just lugging stuff up those
stairs every day and lugging it back down.
I just was very impressed by them.
I think it's a really good thing that someone here the
board is leaning towards realizing that yes, we need
more housing but we also have to protect, preserve and and
defend the quality of life that we have for the housing that we
already have. I'm very impressed by that
today. And you know, I changed my
speech that I'm going to make sometimes I change it five
times I'm sitting back there and I just like to thank you
all for your service and I know that you're going to be able to
play in the field of the lord and I.
I hope you are observing things and thinking and have a moment
to contemplate. >> thank you for your comments.
>> seeing no other individuals here in person we will be going
to our remote line if you have not already done so please
press star three to remote to line up remotely.
again personal attacks harassment or discriminatory
remarks directed to a city employee or board member are
outside the scope of this body and shall be redirected.
failure to immediately redirect those comments will result
in the individual's forfeiture of remaining time and we will
transition to the next speaker. Let's hear from our first
caller by a demand. The bulk of beach and I call
all the people of serbia I oppose upcoming heritage month
resolution because they are like kosovo and these goals
with all three be very bad saints go to america vote for
your loving your envy the victory moving from karate
and all will have more important report in the and and
all sorts of grocery store you got to you had to live grocery
store rock out board and things about time that you bought the
building but your no minutes bob that all right let's go to
our next caller. >> hello supervisors my name is
will hayworth, a resident of district nine and I'm calling
because I'm a complainant in a pending sunshine ordinance task
force complaint and the deadline for processing it
under the existing task force handling procedures was july
17th. The board can't meet right now
because nine of the task or seats are vacant and cannot
walk. We can be sure.
walton published statement explains how this happened
which is that the city attorney advised only on june 26th that
the task force was to look at the new rule.
no one designed this outcome. I got that.
but I want to note in response to the idea of expanding the
search for applicants which is a worthy goal of the existing
odd things for are filled by nominations from the society,
professional journalists and the league women voters
pennington departure in june for those four seats the pool
is fixed by ordinance outreach cannot change it.
acting on them right now would restore quorum and allow the
remaining five seats to be determined at the board's
pleasure in the future. The comments are from the
society professional very publicly that at least one
member of this board considers the sunshine ordinance
burdensome and prefer commissioners the more
pragmatic to use section 67 not 30 assigns those nominations to
outside organizations precisely so that the watchdog's
composition does not track any official appetite type of
oversight. On july 10th the ethics
commission returned a matter concerning the mayor's office
to a body that cannot begin to receive it.
I attributed to no one but every week this body save stark
makes that harder to explain. I ask that you please calendar
the full organization nominated reappointment to the sunshine
ordinance task force no later than the 1st september rules
committee meeting and sooner at a special meeting is convened.
>> thank you. Thank you for your comments.
next speaker good afternoon. My name is lynn rivas.
>> I'm dr. Lynn rivers. I'm the executive director for
the california association of mental health iran
organizations relying solely on emergency department personnel
while eliminating peer specialists would compromise
san francisco's crisis response efficiency.
it'll increase criminal justice involvement and unnecessarily
inflate health care costs based on the research, san francisco
should retain peer specialists and community mobile units for
the following key reasons one here live bill outreach
prevents hospitalization and manage its acute crisis
in its early two tiers improve the escalation and strengthen
crisis intervention. Three community mobile crisis
units directly reduce arrests and criminalization and for
relying solely on emergency department departments
increases costs and system strain.
thank you very much. >> thank you for your comments.
next caller. >> hi there.
>> I'm lynch north north beach resident.
san francisco sunshine ordinance begins with the
simple principle that government exists to conduct
the people's business and that the people don't give
government the right to decide what we should know.
>> today city hall seems to be saying why violate the sunshine
ordinance when you can simply eliminate the people who
enforce it? >> recently so-called
streamlining changes the changed the rules for
commission appointments streamlining what bureaucracy
or accountability. >> now nine of the 11 members
of the sunshine ordinance task force have been forced off the
commission because their re appointments have been left to
expire by you. >> and the timing couldn't be
more convenient. You remember that october phone
call between mayor lurie and then donald trump when the
public asked for public records of it?
>> the mayor's office refused. >> the sunshine task force
found that we that refusal violated our transparency laws
and their next step should have been to finish that case.
instead the task force itself disappeared.
>> that's quite the magic trick.
but it didn't go away because the public lost interest.
but because the referees had been escorted off the field.
>> and this isn't really about one phone call.
it's about whether oversight itself survives.
the sunshine task force is lying in a coma because of your
politics and that means it can be revived by your political
will. >> your constituents as always
are watching reappointing the voting members restore the task
force and prove that in san francisco sunshine isn't
something that politicians can quietly switch off like p, g
and e. >> remember when the washington
post had some political will back in 2017 and warned us that
democracy dies in darkness? >> well, between this and the
deplorable shade act I had to sit through last week your
constituents are watching and feeling mighty left out
in the cold these days. So please do the right thing by
the folks who elected by elected you and let the
sunshine back in. >> thank you for your comments.
I believe that ends are a remote call in line.
mr. President. >> all right.
public comment is now closed. Madam clerk, please call the
for adoption without committee reference agenda items 88
through 95 together items 88 through 95 were introduced for
adoption without committee reference a unanimous vote is
required for adoption of a resolution on first appearance
any supervisor may require resolution on first appearance
to go to committee. >> supervisor mahmood like to
sever item number 90. >> right.
uh supervisor dorsey I'd like to sever item 88 and 89
supervisor melgar 93 please. And I would like to sever 94
and so madam clerk, could you call the roll on the remaining
balance of the items? >> yes on items 9192 and 95.
>> supervisor wong wong absent supervisor chan chin I
supervisor chin chin I supervisor dorsey dorsey I
supervisor fielder fielder I supervisor mahmood mahmood I
supervisor randleman hi randleman I supervisor melgar
melgar I supervisor sadr sutter I supervisor cheryl cheryl I
there are nine eyes without objection the resolutions are
adopted and the motion is approved please call item 88
item number 88 is a resolution declaring the month of august
2026 is afghan-american heritage month in the city
and county of san francisco raza dorsey thank you president
madam and colleagues today I am proud to ask you to support
this resolution declaring august as afghan-american
heritage month for the city and county of san francisco.
san francisco has always been defined by those who came here
seeking opportunity, freedom and the chance to build a
better future. The african-america community
embodies that enduring spirit as we've heard in much of
today's meeting today african-americans,
african-americans helped shape every corner of san francisco
as physicians attorneys, educators, engineers,
entrepreneurs, artists, public servants and members of our
armed forces and community leaders.
this resolution is an opportunity to recognize not
only those remarkable achievements but also the
resilience, perseverance and generosity that define the
afghan american experience. It affirms that their story is
an essential part of san francisco's story.
I would also like to recognize someone from my own office who
has been instrumental in making this recognition possible.
my legislative aide muhammad somebody who worked tirelessly
to elevate african-american heritage month into one of the
city's signature cultural celebrations.
through her vision, leadership and unwavering dedication
and what has been a local celebration has grown into an
annual tradition that now brings together leaders from
across california to honor the extraordinary accomplishments
of the african-american community.
monis thank you for your leadership, your dedication to
public service and for ensuring that history, culture
and achievements of the african-american community are
recognized and celebrated in our city.
because of your work, san francisco has become a leader
in honoring afghan-american heritage month and our city is
stronger and richer for it. To the african-american
community, thank you for your resilience, your service, your
leadership and your countless contributions to the city
and county of san francisco. We're proud to celebrate your
achievements today and we look forward to continuing this
tradition for years to come. >> thank you, madam clerk.
is this the same house we have ?
yes. All right.
let's take this same house, same call without objection,
the resolution is adopted. >> please call item 89.
>> item 89 is a resolution recognizing august 21st 21st,
2026 as national and all prevention and awareness day to
honor the lives impacted by the overdose crisis support
families and communities affected by substance use
disorders. Recognize frontline responders
and service providers and reaffirm the city's
commitment to prevention, treatment and recovery.
>> and public safety supervisor dorsey thank you president
and one colleagues. This resolution recognizes
august 21st as fentanyl prevention and awareness day
in san francisco. This resolution is about
remembrance, awareness and action because the numbers
behind the crisis remain staggering.
fentanyl is as much as 50 times more potent than heroin and a
dose of as little as two milligrams is fatal for most
most people. According to the cdc, more than
70% of accidental overdose deaths nationwide in 2024
involved fentanyl. >> here in san francisco, more
than the more than 3000 people we've lost to fentanyl related
overdoses since 2020 has made this the deadliest public
health emergency in our city since the darkest days of the
aids crisis. In august we will remember
those lost stand with grieving families and recommit ourselves
to prevention, treatment and long term recovery as well.
we must recognize and honor the health care workers and first
responders, peer counselors and community organizations
doing lifesaving work in this realm every day.
I want to recognize my legislative intern eva
seligmann, who we heard from earlier who her research
and drafting made this resolution possible.
eva, thank you for your hard work and commitment to public
service. Finally, colleagues, I would
invite you and all members of the public to attend the fifth
annual international overdose awareness sunset vigil.
a light for every life on sunday august 30th at 7 p.m. On
the steps of city hall. There we will honor the lives
of those lost and stand with families and individuals
in recovery whose voices remain at the center of this work.
thank you to gina mcdonald and the other moms who have
held this vigil for the past five years and for their
continued fight for recovery. >> madam clerk, please call the
roll on this item on item 89. Supervisor wong wang I
supervisor chan chen I supervisor chen chen I
supervisor dorsey dorsey I supervisor fielder filter I
supervisor mahmud mahmud I supervise our management I
mandolin I supervisor melgar melgar I supervisor sada sadr I
supervisors cheryl cheryl either tonight without
objection the resolution is adopted please call item 90.
item 90 is a resolution declaring july 18th through
august 17th 2026 a south asian american heritage month in the
city and county of san francisco and affirming the
cultural, religious and linguistic richness within
the south asian community and recognizing this pluralism
as a source a source of strength that contributes to
san francisco's identity as an open, inclusive and forward
looking city. >> supervisor mahmood thank you
colleagues and thank you to everyone joining us today
in the audience as we recognize july 18th through august 17th
2026 a south asian american heritage month in the city
and county of san francisco deeply honored to have had the
opportunity to introduce this resolution recognizing the many
contributions of south asian american communities that have
helped shape san francisco into diverse, dynamic and inclusive
city that we are today as someone of pakistani heritage,
this recognition carries personal meaning and it's a
reminder that our city is strongest when every
community's history, culture and contributions are seen
valued and celebrated. South asian identity
encompasses a vast and diverse group of communities including
afghanistan, bangladesh, bhutan, india, maldives, nepal,
pakistan and sri lanka. Within that diversity are
countless languages faiths, cultures and traditions
and lived experiences that enrich our city.
>> south asians have been a part of san francisco's story
for generations from entrepreneurs and small
business owners to health care workers, educators, engineers,
artists and public servants. South asian americans have
contributed to nearly every aspect of civic life in our
city. This month is an opportunity to
recognize the resilience of this community our history
in this country includes moments of exclusion,
discrimination and injustice from restrictive immigration
laws to the rise of islamophobia.
anti-sikh discrimination, discrimination, anti-hindu
discrimination and xenophobia that have impacted communities
across south asia's many identities.
but our history is also one of perseverance, solidarity and an
organizing south asian communities have stood
alongside other communities fighting for immigrant rights,
workers rights, gender equity, lgbt high plus inclusion,
racial justice and a more equitable future for all.
this recognition is particularly meaningful because
the dates of south asian american heritage month
coincide with several significant moments in south
asian history including independence days and other
milestones that represent both the complexity of our shared
histories and the enduring ties of south asian communities
around the world. For many south asian families
these histories are deeply personal and they represent
stories of migration, sacrifice and resilience but also
opportunity a story that many san franciscans I know share as
they seek a better life for themselves and their families.
san francisco has always been a city shaped by immigrants
and by communities who bring their experiences, cultures
and hopes for the future. Recognizing south asian
american heritage month is a reflection of our city's values
that inclusion is not just about welcoming people into our
communities but honoring their contributions.
I want to thank the members of the south asian community
advocates, cultural organizations, small business
owners and residents who continue to strengthen our city
every day. Today we celebrate the richness
of the south asian community in san francisco and reaffirm
our commitment to building a city where every person
regardless of where they come from, what language they speak
or traditions they carry knows that they belong.
I respectfully ask your colleagues for your support on
this resolution. >> supervisor dorsey thank you
president randleman. Thank you supervisor mahmood
for introducing this resolution to celebrate the country
and contributions of the south asian community to our city.
know one of my favorite things about serving people in a city
as diverse as ours is that we are all strongly encouraged to
crash the party for one another's cultural
celebrations. And that includes one of my
absolute favorites holi the festival of colors which we
hosted in my district at the east cut crossing a couple of
years ago with brightly colored chalk powder.
I still can't get out of much of the clothing that I wore
that day and we celebrated earlier this year that the
sales force tower projection last year to honor south asian
heritage month I recognized sima sri, a constituent of mine
who was just an incredible civic and cultural leader
in the south asian community. I wanted to take the
opportunity to express my appreciation again for all the
work that she has done to uplift and celebrate the
community. She has helped activate public
spaces for cultural celebrations and supported
south asian artists and entrepreneurs and used her
talents to build connections, equity and visibility.
she unfortunately could not be here today to give public
comment as much as I know she wanted to but I did want to
give her credit and to her and people like her for
dedicating themselves so generously to sharing their
culture and celebrating our diversity.
so thank you, sima and thank you supervisor bhagwan all
right. I think we can take that.
yeah, I think we can take the same house same call without
objection the resolution is adopted.
>> please call item 93. Item 93 the resolution
recognizing july 2026 as disability pride month in the
city and county of san francisco.
>> supervisor melgar thank you president colleagues july is
disability pride month and I wanted to make sure to
acknowledge some of the accomplishments that our city
is leading on in light of the egregious setbacks by this
federal administration. >> I want to make a special
shout shout out to eli gallatin from the office of disability
and accessibility and their team this july today and is
working closely with the mayor's office, city
departments, community partners a welcomed in the support of
the national association of the deaf biennial conference
in preparation for thousands of deaf attendees we strengthen
language access throughout the city, expanded asl availability
at city at city events and coordinated with
departments to improve communication access in public
facing services. They also hosted the california
commission on disability access for a regional meeting at this
disability cultural center. Odeh worked closely with the
office of small business on the beyond the front door
initiative which helps businesses improve physical
accessibility for residents and visitors during mayor loury
and first lady proud us one city day the agency created a
fully accessible event that honored the legacy of the 1977
section five before sit ins protesters dennis billups
and debbie kaplan along with disability cultural center
co-director emily bates shared reflections that meaningfully
connected the history of the disability rights movement with
a work underway today in partnership with the
economic support and self-sufficiency s.f. Mta
and the disability cultural center they held a five for
walking rolling tour staff resource tables provided onsite
cal fresh and medical support and showcase sfa j's mobile
benefits center demonstrating the cross apartment cross
apartment collaboration looks like an action we celebrated
the one year anniversary anniversary of the disability
cultural centers accessible community center space
and heard directly from residents about its growing
impact. >> together these
accomplishments reflect san francisco's commitment to going
beyond ada requirements to explore ending access to
services and ensuring people with disabilities can fully
participate in the civic life of our city as we recognize
july 2026 as disability pride month we reaffirm our
commitment to accessibility equity in continuing the
collaborative work our combined teams have advanced over the
past year. It is my hope that as we
approach next year's milestone that we will also take this
opportunity to expand our support for people with
disabilities further elevate visibility of our heroes like
judi human and alex wong. Wouldn't it be incredible if we
finally saw a statue of judy human to mark the location
in u.n. Plaza where the five live four sit ins took place
with happiness ability pride month.
>> thank you supervisor mugar let's take this item same
house, same call without objection the resolutions
adopted and madam clerk please call item 94.
>> item 94 is a motion authorized in preparation of
written proponent and opponent valid arguments and rebuttal
valid arguments for submittal to the voters for the november
3rd, 2026 consolidated general election.
>> all right and I believe that you have some proposed
amendments to this resolution for us that have been
circulated. >> yes, they have been
circulated. The amendments to the motion
being proposed is to designate supervisor chin to write the
proponent argument for the charter amendment on municipal
finance corporation and public bank designate supervisor
amendment to write the proponent argument for the
charter amendment on department board commission and advisory
body updates designate supervisor melgar to write the
proponent argument for the charter amendment on the
housing trust fund designate supervisor mahmood to write the
proponent argument for the initiative ordinance on real
estate real property transfer tax foreclosure exemption
designate supervisor walton to write the opponent argument for
the charter amendment on extending city administrator
duties and changes to city contracting designate
supervisor walton to also write the proponent opponent argument
for the charter amendment on changes to executive branch
management and designate supervisor walton to also write
the opponent argument for the charter amendment on changes to
ballot measure process and designate supervisor melgar
to write the opponent argument for the initiative ordinance on
allowing private vehicles on the great highway in the sunset
dunes the remainder of the opponent argument section will
be stricken for all of the ones that the supervisors had no
interest in writing and making other clarifying and conforming
changes. >> all right.
can I have a motion to make the amendments that have been
described by the clerk moved by chen seconded by mahmud?
>> can we take that without objection?
without objection. The motion is approved and then
can we take the amended item? Same house, same call without
objection the motion a motion motion no motion is approved.
all right, madam clerk, do we have any imperative agenda
items? >> we have no imperative agenda
items and you please read the in memoriam.
>> yes. Today's meeting will be
adjourned in memory of the following beloved individuals
on behalf of president mandolin for the late mr. Gerald allen
fuller and on behalf of supervisors mandolin and melgar
for the late miss sidner ella ellen constant and on behalf of
president mandolin for the late mr. Jeremiah halsey and on
behalf of supervisor melgar for the late dr. Estella garcia.
and I think that brings us to the end of our agenda, madam
clerk, do we have any further business before us today?
that concludes our business for today.
thank you. >> we are adjourned